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Film: A Quiet Place
Year: 2018
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and John Krasinski
Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski and Noah Jupe
Review:
This was a film that I was nervous and excited to see. I had been seeing trailers for this film for awhile so it had built up to me, but that is where I was also nervous that it was going to be a let down. This is also partially why I stopped watching trailers ahead of seeing horror movies. I do have to say and I’m playing my cards a bit early, I did really enjoy this film. Now the official synopsis is a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
Something interesting about this film is that it starts out on Day 89 after the world ended. We have a family that has gone into town to get supplies. The father is Lee Abbott (John Krasinski). He is also a co-writer as well as director of the film. His wife in real life, Emily Blunt, portrays his wife in this film of Evelyn. They have three children of Marcus (Noah Jupe) who is sick. They’ve come to a pharmacy in town for antibiotics. His sister is Regan (Millicent Simmonds). Something interesting about Simmonds is that she is deaf in real life as well as the film. This is quite important as it explains why the family knows sign language. Coming into seeing this, I was wondering how they would explain it so this was very logical.
The creatures that are hunting them are interesting. We learn from subtle clues in the film that they are blind and hunt by sound. The film slowly reveals what they look like, which is something I’m always concerned about when it comes to creature features. Even though they are CGI, I thought they looked solid. It was also interesting seeing how they operate as well. I also like how a weakness was slowly revealed. There were clues that are subtle dropped and all connect in the end. This is something that worked for me.
Knowing this was a creature feature, I wasn’t expecting the depth of the story that the film had. It really delves into some thought provoking issues that people can deal with regularly in real life. There is grief and blaming yourself for what happened to someone around you. To go off that, poorly handling these feelings where you believe someone resents you. It also a bit of misogyny as Lee wants Marcus to help him with more manly things of survival and gathering food where he is terrified. He doesn’t want to leave the safety of their farm. Regan actually wants to go help, but told to stay back. We get the feeling that it is because she is a girl. There is another part to this with Regan being unable to hear and her cochlear implant not working. During their time apart I feel this latter aspect as well as some other reasons which makes sense for me. There is an interesting look here at gender conformity within the family unit.
Going from this, I didn’t realize how anxious this film would make me. Part of this I feel like was due to the use of sounds in the film. When we are really focusing on Regan we hear the bear minimum. It is simulating to what she can hear, which her hearing aids aren’t working so it can be a little bit unnerving. We also get no sound when the characters are trying to be quiet. It really builds the tension up of the scene as you are anticipating what is going to happen. Now when a monster is close, there is a very fitting theme for them that I thought worked really well. I will say, this film really uses its use of sound to its advantage which is also fitting.
After my initial viewing, I heard some people being up the fact that Evelyn is pregnant. In a world where you have to be quiet, childbirth and a baby are two things that definitely make this extremely difficult. I also feel like this is something worked into the story build more tension. In reality, it isn’t smart as she becomes pregnant and has the child all during this harrowing time. It is irresponsible and does hurt the movie now that I’ve reflected on it.
The film was edited very well in my opinion. A great deal of the film is establishing these characters and their life. It is a good set up, but we also see that even the best laid plans don’t always work. That is something you come into a film expecting though as well. The tension is built throughout the film and I thought that the climax gives us a good payoff. There weren’t any problems there for me.
Now with that said, I’ve come down after my initial viewing of it, but I do think it is still solid. The story isn’t the most complex as we have these monsters that hunt by sound and forcing humanity to be quiet. I do enjoy the look at humanity and the depth of emotions through this family. The creature despite being CGI I thought looked really good. It had an interesting concept. The sound design of the film was different and really helped to build the tension. It also made for one of my favorite theater experiences. I didn’t really have any major issues with the film aside from the tension building of Evelyn and her pregnancy. I still enjoyed this after a second viewing. It does seem some people really dislike this movie, but it is still entertaining for me. I would say it is good movie still.
My Rating: 8 out of 10