The highly anticipated sequel to A Quiet Place came into cinemas this month and BOY was I excited! This movie gives us a glimpse into the happenings of that fateful day when it all started, and then picks up from the death of the Lee Abbott; played by John Krasinski, husband of Evelyn and father of Marcus and Regan.
Let's start with the epic opening sequence which was by far my favourite part of the movie. We see the family at a baseball game and as the older son is ready to bat the spectators cast their eyes to the sky, where a massive fireball appears to be descending to Earth. Cue hordes of nervous parents rushing their children home in a bid to get indoors. The Abbott family split up into two vehicles, with dad and daughter heading for his pickup truck on the High street and mum bustling her two sons into her vehicle. As she drives up the town she's met with the most intense driving experience of her life, with vehicles heading towards her from all directions, and as she's driving a bus starts coming towards her. A creature unfurls out of this huge coach towards her and the two children and she starts what I can only imagine is the most stressful obstacle course she's ever had to face. Meanwhile John has ran into a local store in the hopes that if they stay quiet indoors they will be ignored, however an idiotic teenager who doesn't have her phone on silent ruins it for everyone in the store. It wasn't a great result for many of the people in there, and Lee and Regan head back outside for cover. We see both parents come together as a brave police officer tries to kill one of these monsters to no avail.
The movie now hops forward to Evelyn and her family picking up the pieces, with their barn still burning from the encounter which unfortunately ended with the death of her husband. She's now lost a son and a husband, what more can this franchise throw at her? The family must move to a safe location, with the very recent addition to their family being carried in a basket with an oxygen tank in order to silence any cries that may alert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they venture to a location they believe to be inhabited they discover a family friend who is now alone, having lost the rest of his family. Emmett insists the Abbott family can not stay because he can't sustain them, but when Regan goes off alone in search of a fix to all of their problems, Evelyn insists he goes to fetch her, since it's the right thing to do. Upon finding her they decide to continue with their journey to the destination which, fingers crossed, will help amplify the signal which disrupts these beings in their tracks, giving humans the opportunity to kill them before they can be killed themselves.
Okay, so for me as mentioned the opening sequence was definitely the best. So much action, excitement, despair. It was a great way to begin what would ultimately be a pretty tedious movie. After the first movie I was expecting Emily Blunt to be a strong, independent single mother. That was not at all the vibe I got. Not only did she decide to up and move everyone (they could have stayed, most definitely), she didn't have the means of fetching supplies solo due to her brand new baby. A baby was a bad idea in the first place, but now that Lee wasn't in the picture it was almost irresponsible for her to take the actions she did. She also came across as super needy, with no real sense of danger. Asking someone else to risk their life for the sake of yours is selfish and clearly showed a lack of strength of character. Of course leaving a kid to look after a baby was a bad idea, when you've just sent the only other responsible adult away from the location. The son Marcus is also a character I came to dislike. The accident with the bear trap wasn't on him, he couldn't have known that would happen, but all of the steps he took once he was aware of the presence of a monster could have played out better. He's been living like this for over a year, he knows what can and can't, should and shouldn't be done. Thankfully Regan was there to help in the first instance but her journey to the radio station left a bit of a hole in the Abbott family story.
The most important part of the plot was Regan and her knowledge of a weakness in this peculiar enemy. The scenes she shared with anyone other than Emmett really took away from the fact that SHE HAD A SOLUTION! Yes, she shouldn't have left to go by herself but I also feel like as a character she is badass enough to deal with these monsters, so why didn't the writers give her that chance?! Infuriating. The writers were happy for her to fail against her first foe! Thankfully Cillian Murphy's Emmett had a great dynamic with Millicent Simmonds' Regan because that was the only on screen relationship that had me believing there was hope for this movie. Despite Cillian's flat character, his performance was enjoyable.
So the weird people at the dock were a strange addition, but I'm assuming they were hoping for it to come across in a way that showed that not all survivors were supportive of one another. Not sure if they were cannibals? They had super bloodshot eyes, and a lust to kill about them. Why would you actively set someone up in a way that means a huge monster is going to aggressively come your way in search for it's next victim? Bad plan dudes. How on Earth was that gonna do them favours, especially if they were living on the boats it would be clambering past?
The island with the radio station. I have a fair few gripes about this one, the first being how come the army only managed to get a few boats out, and couldn't communicate the message to others in order have more people reach safe locations? You would think the information would have been available to the whole military and as such they could have had warships filled with citizens, taking them away from the chaos. Secondly, why didn't the people of the island operate the radio station with a message telling people to head off shore for safety, with the creatures not being particularly fluent in the art of swimming? I feel as though they were happy with living the way they were, with a small group all living together rather than inviting others to safety. The idea that a whole bunch of people had lived there without issue for so long is annoying. Especially with the ability to have helped others. Grrr.
There were a lot of uninspiring segments when it came to the writing of this film, and I was genuinely a bit disappointed coming out of the cinema. With such a great first instalment I wasn't expecting any less from part 2. If you haven't seen A Quiet Place you will need to in order to watch this.
Review by CB.
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