A Quiet Place has been one of the few great horror movies in modern cinema. However, the first 2 movies were set over a year after the apocalyptic event that caused everyone to be quiet. So to no one’s surprise, a prequel was bound to happen. Does it live up to the previous movies in the franchise?
Firstly, Lupita Nyong'o is amazing as the main lead. She plays a terminally ill cancer patient who is just so sick and tired of being near death all the time. Due to this, her character can come off as quite mean. However, Lupita’s great performance manages to make her still come off as very likeable and a character that you will still root for. Joseph Quinn plays the other main character who is quite the opposite, he is absolutely frightened of death. Praise to the director/writer as his character could easily be annoying but due to how he is written and Joseph’s confident performance, he ends up being a very enjoyable character. Both the actors have great chemistry and the bonding of both characters is incredibly heartfelt.
The supporting characters are also pretty good. Djimon Hounsou returns as the unnamed character from part 2 but this time has a name! He continues to deliver a terrific performance, no matter how small his screen time. Likewise, I also like Alex Wolff’s character and his fun interactions with Lupita’s character. The best supporting character though is the Cat and yes you will want this Cat to live no matter what. I also appreciate that they used a real Cat and rarely ever used CGI for it. The set pieces are also incredibly tense and very exciting to watch. There are some great ones such as dozens of aliens chasing our characters into a building which is seen in the trailers or the subway one. It also helps that the music composed for the movie is utilised effectively and never feels like it is too much. The movie is also visually great. Nevertheless, the best moments are the downtime moments where characters are just interacting with one another. It has a very strong final act as well.
However, I do have some gripes. For some reason, this entry has a fair amount of jump scares. I would be fine with it if it was done in a way that it is built up but there are some very cheap and even one nonsensical jump scare. I am also a little disappointed that the prequel concept is not utilised in a meaningful way. We don’t get much information on how the government is fighting back against the aliens or how they are figuring out anything about the aliens. It also annoys me that we don’t have the characters naturally discover things about the aliens. For example, the characters realise that the aliens can’t swim, not because they saw an Alien fail to do it but because military Helicopters told them so. I am also annoyed at Djimon Honsou again having a small role. Apart from getting his name now, we still barely know anything about his character. It is also weird how the Cat doesn’t ever make any noise. It also gets weirdly forced into set pieces. There are also some cool scenes in the trailers that are not in the movie for some reason.
Overall, if you liked the first two movies then Day One is more or less the same as that. It being a prequel doesn’t feel that relevant but it is still a fun time and I look forward to more in this franchise.
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