A QUIET PLACE PART II

US, 2020, 97 minutes, Colour.

Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou, John Krasinski.

Directed by John Krasinski.

The first A Quiet Place made quite an impact on its release, a horror film, mysterious monsters, threats to a family, the basic concept that the monsters were attracted to attack by sound, so the humans having to survive in a world of quiet and silence. It was intelligently made. Actor John Krasinski wrote and directed and acted with his real-life wife, Emily Blunt.

There was an eagerness for a sequel. The trailers were screening for this Part II in April-May 2020. Anticipation for more success. Then covid-19, postponements, more postponements, even more postponements because of cinema closures in the US and around the world. Then, April-May 2021 and those same trailers re--emerging. And, the film finally released to some acclaim – and box office resurrection in the US.

In a way, this scenario is more or less a repeat of the original film. However, while it re-creates the eerie world of enforced silence, the ever-menace of the creatures, it focuses on mother, daughter and son. (There is a return to Day One, a folksy day in an American town, baseball matches, cheering parents, nervous young players, encouragement – then an ominous cloud in the sky, the descent of the monsters, chaos car crashes, the father dying, mother surviving with her children.)

And then the action takes place on Day 447… The family escaping along a country road, seeking refuge in an abandoned warehouse, discovering their neighbour (Cillian Murphy), his unwillingness to help them, but their having to combine to survive. The monstrous creatures are never far away.

The advantage of the drama of Part II is that it divides into three parts, intercutting each of them, and each with its particular intensity, danger, horror. At the simplest level, the mother makes a quiet excursion into the local town, going to the pharmacy, collecting medicines, especially necessary because her son’s leg caught viciously in an iron trap and needs treatment. At the next level, there is the story of the son with his wounded leg, the baby that the family has been carrying for refuge, but oxygen cylinders needed when the family take shelter in safely secure enclosed areas of the factory, the boy coming out of the enclosure but making noise and having to hurry back, protect the baby, ration the oxygen…

So, quite some tension there. But, the main adventure/tension concerns the daughter. She is played by Millicent Simmonds given more scope than she had in the first film, a hearing-impaired actress. She comes into her own in this film, strong, courageous, intelligent and shrewd. She also has a talent for machine repair. Listening on radio to Bobby Darin singing Beyond the Sea, she works out that there are survivors on islands beyond the coast, the monsters unable to swim. She goes to explore on but shames the neighbour into coming with her.

Which means then that we go beyond the warehouse, along the railway tracks, the abandoned carriages, the discovery of the boat (and some drunken men survivors who threaten the girl), and go to the island where they find sympathetic leader ,Djimon Hounsou.

With a crisis on the island, with the mother returning from the store and discovering the situation with her son and the baby, there is enough to keep the audience tense (plus several jump cuts in editing which propels out of our seats!).

If we enjoyed the first film, we will enjoy the revisit.

1. The impact of the original film, plot, characters, desperate situations, horror, menace, survival? The sequel successfully continuing in this tradition?
2. Audience expectations, fans and their hopes, fulfilment? The characters, going back to Day One, everything normal, ominous clouds, establishing the characters, the baseball match, the parents, Regan and her signing and reassurance, Evelyn encouraging Marcus, his nervousness? News from Shanghai? The setting for the horror, the creatures, the traffic, the accidents, the bus, Lee’s death?
3. The transition to Day 474, the Appalachian Mountains, the abandoned towns and houses, abandoned rail tracks, the railway station and the interiors? The huge warehouses and factories? The interiors? The visit to the town, to the pharmacy and its stock? The travel beyond the railway station, the water, the boats, the island, the radio station?
4. Audiences identifying with the characters? Parents, children, the deaf daughter, the young baby? Emmett and his survival?
5. The journey for Evelyn and the children, Regan and the radio, carrying the baby? The search for refuge? The warehouse, the fence, tripping on the wire, Emmett and the sights of his gun? The family into the warehouse, Emmett and his survival, explanations?
6. The need for silence, the creatures drawn to noise, yet being able to be destroyed by loud noise? And the discovery that the creatures could not swim? The visuals of the creatures, monsters? Close-ups? Destructive? The contrast between the ominous score and the peaceful score?
7. Marcus, his leg caught in the trap, screaming, the pain? Finding his wound? The need for painkillers? Evelyn and his decision to go to the store, collecting the goods, the oxygen canisters? Marcus left, looking after the baby, his venturing outside, the accident, the noise, his retreating? Lack of oxygen, sharing it with the baby? Trapped?
8. Regan, her age, leadership, resembling her father, deaf, sign language, the radio, the contact, Beyond the Sea and people hearing it, her recognising the clue, the confrontation with Emmett and condemning him, her decision to leave, Marcus trying to stop her, the note? Following the tracks? The railway station, the first-aid kit, trapped, Emmett shooting the creature? Her challenge to Emmett to do something worthwhile? His finding the boat?
9. Regan and Emmett, the boats, the vicious attack on the jetty, the sexual aspect, the threat to Regan? Emmett and his decision, the attack? The attraction of the creatures, Emmett shrewd, in the water? Regan on the boat, landing on shore?
10. The island, everything normal, the welcoming man in charge? The discovery of the creature on the boat? The vicious attack? The man leading them to the radio station, his death? Regan, her ingenuity, setting up the radio, the sounds for the creature, communicating with her family?
11. The drama of the three episodes simultaneous, Regan and Emmett and their search, Evelyn going to the shop, Marcus and his venturing outside? Regan and Emmett’s success? Evelyn rescuing Marcus and the baby?
12. A satisfactory ending – and an opening for a further sequel?