A Quiet Place Part II
Directed by John Krasinski
Running time: 1hr37 | REVIEWED BY CATHERINE BRAY
Noah Jupe, Millicent Simmonds and Emily Blunt star in A Quiet Place Part II
“I remember this!” That’s the thought I kept having, in a deeply satisfying way, as I watched zesty monster movie A Quiet Place Part II. Not because I’d seen the first A Quiet Place back in 2018, although I had. The reason the sequel prompted such an enjoyable sensation of déjà vu was because it’s the ideal film to see at the cinema, and revel once more in the sensation of cinema-going. It’s the kind of film that is not meant for your laptop or TV. It’s the kind of film where you should be sitting in the dark, hefty cinema speakers vibrating the room, the screen looming over you, and ideally an enthusiastic crowd jumping and gasping along. I sat there in the auditorium and basked in that physical sensation. Yes, I remember this - and this is great.
A Quiet Place Part II is not the kind of sequel where it massively matters if you’ve seen the first film. All you really need to know is that there are these big gnarly creatures, real bad fellas, who see by following sounds, and you’re therefore safe from them if you’re quiet. Life since they showed up has naturally been a rather hushed affair. There is of course a new resonance to watching a film about a broken world full of people who have to stay at home, which wasn’t present during the first film, but writer-director John Krasinski (yes, Jim from The Office) doesn’t labour this point — this film is here to deliver jumps and tension. The victims are a likeable bunch, generally avoiding doing the kind of dumb stuff that makes you root for the monsters, while remaining down to earth human beings rather than superheroes. Neatly shot by talented director of photography Polly Morgan, it’s the perfect summer popcorn movie, not in the sense that you need to check your brain at the door, but this is a movie about sensation, not inner contemplation, and it’s a bracing, entertaining example of the form.
A QUIET PLACE PART II (2020) Written by John Krasinski | Shot by Polly Morgan | Edited by Michael P. Shawver
In cinemas now.
