A Quiet Place Review

This movie is the talk of the town lately, and for good reason.

Story- The world has come to a post apocalyptic fate, and vicious aliens roam Earth, hunting anyone down who makes a sound. The Abbot family survive by scavenging without making a sound, and monitor the aliens, trying to stay one step ahead of them and avoiding disturbing them at all costs. It's hard to describe this movie without giving too much away so it's worth the ambiguity. I don't know what category this would fall under so I'll put it right here: there are several ingenious plot devices/ minor attentions to detail that make this movie that much more enjoyable. The first is that the father, Lee, places sand everywhere they walk to create paths, and don't wear shoes to cut down on the sound they would make. It was also cool to see a film of this nature to start a long period of time after the initial contact, as opposed to countless movies where they have the buildup and then the beginning of the event. This is very 28 Days Later in that aspect. This movie also felt like much longer than an hour and a half, but in a good way. The tension was there and I genuinely was on the edge of my seat. I had a similar experience with the movie No Escape, and in a horror/thriller that is yet another great compliment I can give it. I really want to talk about the ending but I'm going to leave this review spoiler free, maybe I'll do separate spoiler talks in the future because I'd love to give my opinions on this and other thought provoking movies.

Cinematography/Props- The very first thing that stood out about this movie is how beautiful it is. The use of natural light is used I believe throughout the whole movie, similar to the Revenant where they relied on natural light. Another thing I loved is the use of the camera angles. This was by far one of the film's biggest strengths, because every shot that was building tension got even more tense by the strict camera angles. You were only able to see what Krasinski wanted you to see, and that is phenomenal in a horror movie. Another really cool aspect to this film is the design of the aliens. They're similar to bats, where they rely strictly on their heightened sense of sound to hunt their prey, and it is shown that their head kind of shifts to reveal a super sensitive ear canal, and I thought that was genius. The use of props as well to convey the type of man Lee is, with newspapers laid out showing images of the aliens, a white board with notes detailing their composition, and his "command center" where he is able to monitor the different parts of the farm they were staying on (also the genius use of lights outside paired with red bulbs to signal there is danger). There were a few jump scares in this movie which I wasn't a fan of at first, but thinking more about them, the aliens zip across at fast speeds when they move, so it actually fits in well continuity-wise.

Acting- Phenomenal across the board. Obviously John Krasinski killed it in this department as well, really showing the love he has for his family in the movie and the dedication to keeping them safe (all the while using only sign language). His wife in real life as well as in the movie Emily Blunt brought another rockstar performance to an already fantastic movie, conveying the tension and emotion the character feels greatly. The two kids, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds, also were super good in this movie. I love that John Krasinski insisted on having an actual deaf actor play the role of Regan, and Millicent did spectacular. Overall, loved the acting.

Directing- Let's get it out of the way because this is what everyone will refer to him as, this film was directed and co-written by John Krasinski, aka "Jim from The Office". I hate when people typecast someone as a specific character when they are known for much more, however typecasting is a testament to how good an actor portrays a character which is a good thing. So with that out of the way, let's discuss the directing. John crushed it out of the park with this movie, especially as his directorial debut. I've seen so many articles about his directing style and how he crafted the story and it is intriguing. It's interesting how two outstanding horror movies came from comedians (Krasinski with this and Jordan Peele with Get Out). I can't wait to see what he has in store next, he deserves all the credit in the world.

Soundtrack/Audio- Given that this movie plays on the concept of no sound, the OST music that was composed was fantastic. Usually sound is very crucial to a horror movie because it can make the scares even scarier. This movie is no exception. There is also the fact that every time you see something from Regan (the daughter who is deaf), there is absolute silence. I love details like this, like in Baby Driver how every time Baby doesn't have headphones in there is a slight ringing from his tinnitus). It immerses the viewer in truly experiencing a movie. With the whole point of the movie being to not make a sound, it really was a benefit to the movie going experience as well, while, with the exception of someone who forgot to silence their phone even though they knew they were going to a quiet movie, the audience was quiet. I brought pretzels to snack on which was probably the stupidest decision to make because that's one of the loudest foods I could've eaten, so I chewed really slowly to not make noise. But back to the no sound aspect, after the movie ended the friend I was with said their thoughts on the movie and I almost didn't want to speak at first, which again is the testament to the movie. The same applies with the movie Hush, which is about a deaf woman trying to avoid a serial killer (fantastic movie if you haven't seen it).

Final Verdict- A+. This is literally the longest review I've written so far, so clearly I thought very highly of this movie.There were a few minor discrepancies I had initially but after thinking and reflecting on them, I realize they aren't faults of the movie and it truly was one of the best horror movies that has come out in the last decade up there with It and Get Out.

#JohnKrasinski #Horror #EmilyBlunt