The 2018 smash hit “A Quiet Place” left viewers with endless questions.
Who are these alien creatures that conquered Earth? How did they crush the collective power of the world’s military defenses? And, most importantly, why did they take over the planet in the first place?
The sequel to the 2020 film offered few answers. The prequel, “A Quiet Place: Day One,” offers even less.
That’s frustrating, period. It’s also frustrating that the creatures no longer terrify us like they did the first two times.
What the prequel does have is a powerful story of human connection amidst chaos. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o plays the most unlikely heroine in recent memory, and seeing her rekindle her humanity is the best part of this solid, if unnecessary, prequel.
Nyong’o plays Sam, a young woman living in a hospice in the Big Apple. She’s a sharp-tongued woman to a fault, so when a day trip to her facility ends abruptly she can’t hide her disappointment.
They promised you a slice of New York pizza, for God’s sake! We understand your pain.
The interruption is more than disappointing. It’s a full-scale alien invasion and Sam is separated from his fellow patients as they all seek shelter.
The sequel to “A Quiet Place” had already anticipated this scenario: aliens who hunt humans mercilessly. Now, we see more of that carnage.
Can Sam survive the initial invasion? Can she do it herself or will a clingy law student named Eric (Joseph Quinn) accidentally convict her?
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“Pig” director Michael Sarnoski delivers some solid set pieces, but the goal isn’t to pile on sci-fi wonder. He has little dialogue to work with beyond another wave of “shhhhhs!” So he focuses on movement, sound and characters making their way through a terrifying new world.
Sam, who spends most of the movie chasing her cat Frodo (get it?), is dying with or without the help of aliens. She’s no warrior like Girlboss. She wouldn’t mind another fentanyl skin patch to ease the pain of cancer.
She is even more resourceful than Eric.
He’s so stunned by this series of events (can you blame him?) that he seems destined to make enough noise to doom them both. His evolution is slow and realistic. This is how Nyong’o shows Sam not just as a survivor, but as a soul searching for a reason to live under any conditions.
Great performances are rare in the horror genre. “Day One” features not one but two.
A Quiet Place: The Connection Between Day One and Part Two Explained by the Directorhttps://t.co/FUTQOwNo7J
– ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) June 27, 2024
Still, the future of the franchise seems uncertain given the events of the prequel. The “don’t make a sound or else” mantra has a definite expiration date. The creatures are now omnipresent, meaning they can’t strike fear into our hearts like they once did.
The power dynamic between the aliens and humanity is so one-sided that it threatens the tension inherent in the saga. How many movies can focus on characters on the run for more than 90 minutes?
Sarnoski solves this problem by thinking small. In doing so, he creates not only a believable prequel, but also a rewarding final act, something that is increasingly rare in the genre.
So are the prequels worthy of their source material?
Hit or miss: “A Quiet Place: Day One” does little to expand the fledgling franchise. Instead, it focuses on human connections in ways that are sure to be satisfying.
The charge ‘Quiet Place: Day One’ offers hope in times of despair appeared first on Hollywood on Toto.