A Quiet Place Part II

A Quiet Place Part II

By James Davidson

“A Quiet Place Part II” is the long awaited sequel to the 2018 film “A Quiet Place”. It was released exclusively in theaters after a long delay due to Covid-19 on May 28th 2021. This sequel picks up exactly where the original left off. After the death of her husband, Evelyn Abbot (Emily Blunt) must find a new home for herself, two teenagers and her newborn baby. After seeking out an old friend, Emmett (Cillian Murphy) who has also survived the alien attacks,the group discovers hop in the form of a mysterious radio message. Hearing impaired Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmonds) sets off on her own to find what she hopes is a group of survivors on a secluded island. After Emmett goes after her, the pair must find a way to avoid the noise seeking aliens as well as crazed human survivors in order to find paradise.

I have been looking forward to this film for a long time. The first film is one of my favorite films in recent memory and I was hoping that this movie would be more of the same. I wasn’t disappointed and I am glad that this film sparked my first trip back to the movie theater in over a year.

While the first film was revolutionary in the way sound in movies is perceived, I believe it turned sound into as much of a tool as the visual aspect of the film, the second iteration builds on that. While the way these movies use sound as a tool might have lost a bit of it’s novelization from the first film, it’s still very entertaining and revolutionary. The way that the film switches sound perspectives and uses sound to create suspense is interesting and original.

Added to the original sound production is the way that this movie transitions between storylines. There are three storylines that the movie switches between and the way that this film builds and breaks suspense at the same time during all of these stories is fascinating. The suspense definitely kept me on the edge of my seat and it was only compounded by the fact that suspense was building over three storylines at the same time. I haven’t seen too many films that can build suspense like that through transitions very well and the director did a great job with this.

Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe did an incredible job at reprising their roles from the original film and Cillian Murphy fits in seamlessly with the rest of the cast. The acting is wonderful, especially considering that the actors had to do a lot of the acting without speaking or making hardly any sound.

This movie is rated PG-13 for terror, violence and bloody/disturbing images. There is a good bit of violence in the form of monster attacks, and some very suspenseful/terrifying moments that would make this film inappropriate for young viewers. If you are a fan of the first film however, I can’t recommend this movie enough and I think it is a great companion to the first film.

“A Quiet Place Part II” is a fantastic sequel that, while losing some originality, follows the story of the original “A Quiet Place” perfectly. It is suspenseful without being too terrifying and the acting and directing is incredible. It earns 4.5 out of 5 stars.