‘A Quiet Place’ Review

We often fail to recognize how much sound we make on a daily basis. Not just from talking and laughing, but from the little, everyday things. Eating, tapping, humming or even walking. Even the noise that I am making on my keyboard while writing this review. 

In a world where most of these noises are not allowed, the question is how would we be able to adapt to this situation? A Quiet Place shows us this reality through a family who is stuck in this horrifying situation.

Plot

An unknown alien species has come to Earth and has taken over. These aliens are heavily armored, fast, and hunt anything that moves. These aliens are heavily armored, which makes them very hard to kill. However, these aliens do not have any eyes. They have an enhanced sense of hearing, which allows them to hunt down anything that they can hear. 

The remaining survivors now have to live in silence in order to survive. Even one quick noise and these creatures will hunt you down. The film follows a family who are doing their best to adapt to the situation and live as normally as they possibly can.

Pros

This film demanded good performances from its cast considering most of the emotions and reactions in this film had to be conveyed with very little dialogue. Fortunately, everyone in the cast does a fantastic job in this movie. John Krasinski and Emily Blunt have fantastic chemistry. They are a married couple in real life and it definitely shows.

 They have a very strong relationship with one another, especially considering what they have to go through. The entire family has great chemistry. The film does a great job at creating a realistic family that has to go through this. They love one another but still recognize each other’s flaws.

The two kid actors in this film are both fantastic. Noah Jupe is really good, but the kid who stole the show for me was Millicent Simmonds. Her character has to deal with a lot as she is deaf. However, Simmonds is deaf in real life so it seemed authentic when we got to know her perspective and what she goes through in this film. Its also a very creative element of the film by utilizing a deaf character. 

In a world where noise is not allowed, a deaf person would be unaware of the noise that they make, which creates certain restraints for them. It is a frustrating world, and Simmonds does a great job at showing the effects of this.

This brings me into my favorite part of this film which is the sound design. The way this movie plays with sound is amazing. Every little sound puts you more on edge because you aren’t sure if the monsters can hear it or not. It also effects the viewers experience. While watching this, I never wanted to make a noise because I didn’t want to disrupt the immersion of the film.

John Krasinski did an awesome job at directing this film. The movie is extremely tense. So many scenes had me at the edge of my seat due to the suspense of the scene. He creates solid scares, but not through cheap jump scares. There are some jump scares, but they are well done and creative. He builds up the scare through the intensity of the scene. Nothing will jump out, but a sudden noise becomes frightening.

I also love the world that he creates. There are little details that show what the world would be like when trying to make as little noise as possible. For example, the staircase has markings on them so that the family knows where to step so that the stairs don’t creak loudly. 

The monsters also look really cool. They are not shown for a long time which builds up the suspense of what they look like. They have a unique design that makes them stand out from other monsters.

Cons

Not much to say that is negative about this movie. I guess there are certain choices by characters that don’t make a lot of sense, but it isn’t a huge issue. The film is rather short and does end abruptly, so I could see some people having problems with the ending, but I actually liked it. The film also does take a bit of time to get a ton of action going, but it’s still entertaining. Overall, there is not much negative that I can say.

Final Thoughts

A Quiet Place sets a new precedent not just for horror films, but for film in general. It shows how creative films can be in terms of sound and how sound can be used to create suspense or other emotions without much dialogue. It is very entertaining and it is short, so it is a quick watch that is definitely worth the time investment. While it is a horror film, I didn’t find it too scary so anyone who is scared easily should be fine.

Rating: 9/10