A Quiet Place Part II is one of those films in the Covid-19 Canon, a group of films that were in one way or another affected by or products of the viral pandemic.
Completed before the pandemic and set to release worldwide on March 2020, it was swooped up and withheld quietly with an indefinite release date. The world had all but stopped and was just as silent as the films premise. Theaters were closing for obvious reasons but more importantly people were hurting, people were sick and people were dying.
Fast forward to May 2021. The US is still feeling hurt, sickness and death but we’ve somehow come a long way, despite social and political resistance and things look betterish.
More than a year after its initial release date, Jon Krasinski’s made primarily for the big screen sequel hit now open US theaters.
A Quiet Place Part II is a solid sequel to the 2018 smash hit. It’s a gripping and thorough expansion of the Quiet Place….world.
Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe are all back and great as ever, although it’s clear the kids have aged plenty since the first film. Its only noticeable in the flashback of Day 1. Kids age fast, especially in 474 movie days and over 700 real life days.
Fast forward to Day 474 and we’ve swapped out Krasinski’s role for Cillian Murphy’s role as fellow local Emmett and he does a great job. He provides a unique dynamic with the deaf Abbott daughter.
I enjoy the journey that Emmett and Regan embark on but the subplot back at the factory hideout is rather weak at times.
This time around the blind creatures are on full display. Part II lets loose after the original title kept us on the edge of our seats to get glimpses of these threatening enigmas.
The Creature designs are still excellent. Those lanky arms with sharp claws, the alien grey skin pigment and their cranial cracking that looks a lot like a cracked open Watermelon. While it should feel obvious that this time around we would see plenty more of these monsters and it adds to the overarching threat, it does run the risk of losing its mystification….a problem I felt Stranger Things suffers from at times.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the films conclusion, one that I don’t even have to spoil, ends on such a blatant open ending……calling for a 3rd installment in the A Quiet Place franchise, hopefully concluding as a solid Sci-fi Horror trilogy. I know the next film won’t be anything groundbreaking but it’ll no doubt be a fun theater movie experience. My only wish is that they don’t give it some long and unnecessary title, just keep it simple. A Quiet Place Part III.
See ya’ll in a couple of years for my A Quiet Place Part III review!
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