A QUIET PLACE (2018) - Suspense in silence

A Quiet Place is a 2018 horror thriller directed by John Krasinski (of The Office US fame) who also plays the lead character. The movie also stars Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe as a family living in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by monsters who hunt by detecting even the slightest sound. Mankind is mostly wiped out, and whatever specks of humanity remain must stay separate and small in order to hide from the monsters. This film follows the story of a single family as they struggle to stay alive in a world drenched in silence.

We all know the premise: make a noise and you die, and yet actually experiencing the movie yourself is way more haunting and tense than you'd expect. Krasinski and the filmmakers had a stroke of genius with the concept of having to keep as quiet as possible, and boy did they milk that as much as they could. The entire movie is extremely quiet with characters rarely ever even speaking. Often times the most you'll hear in the movie is the calm, atmospheric music that plays as the characters silently live out their lives. And of course, the roar of the creatures when they inevitably attack.

By far my favorite part of the movie was how much care and detail was placed in making this a fully realized, lived-in world. The characters all communicate via sign language, they play board games using pieces made of crochet, they eat using lettuce as plates (I really liked that one), they painted certain spots on their wood floors to mark places that are safe to walk on without creaking, making paths of sand to safely walk on, the list goes on and on. This level of detail often isn't found in more blockbuster films, so it's always really nice to see filmmakers invested enough to put this much care in their world and on how a real family would actually live in this situation.

And speaking of the family, they are pretty great overall. John Krasinski showed us a side of him we never expected to find, with a very strong performance and a surprisingly emotional twist near the end. Emily Blunt is obviously fantastic, and her chemistry with Krasinski helps pull the movie quite a bit (they are married in real life). Millicent Simmonds who plays their deaf daughter (she is also deaf in real life) is good for a child actor, and while the son played by Noah Jupe is definitely the weak link in terms of acting and writing, I still find myself caring about him. 

Simultaneously a strong and a weak point in the film, though, is the monsters. The first half of the movie portrayed them very well, often in drenched in dark shadows in the dead of night with only close-ups on their teeth and hypersensitive ears. The suspense that you feel every time they're around--every time the tiniest sound is made--is really intense and had me on the edge of my seat every time, almost reaching the same heights as 1979's Alien. But then somewhere around half way through the movie, the same suspense is slowly lost. We get a full view of the creature far too early in my opinion, and this really takes away from the fear and suspense we feel. Near the end of the movie we get to see it in full daylight and it just looks weird at that point. And maybe that's the point, we have understood their weakness and so now they are intentionally shown as less scary, but I still would have liked it if we never get a full view of the monster.

Final Verdict

A Quiet Place is fantastically done and incredibly suspense. The horror is a bit lacking, but it makes up for it with really good tense moments and strong characterization for its main cast. I cared about everybody and I'd be lying if I said a certain emotional moment a little past the halfway point didn't get to me. Probably the weakest part of the movie is that I feel the monsters were shown in full view a little too early, which detracted from how scared we felt in the first act.

Also, this isn't a fault of the movie itself, but I find it a bit hard to recommend that this movie be watched in theaters. Because of just how quiet the movie is, I could easily see your experience as being ruined--or at the very least, disturbed--by loud moviegoers or sounds from the other theater rooms. Probably the optimal experience is to get this movie on Blu-ray and watch in your home.

Score: B