A Quiet Place: Day One

 

“Shhhh.”

Tense, nail-biting yet tender, A Quiet Place: Day One is a bleak prequel that explores the destructive damage that plunged this world into silence, scaling the action up to full disaster movie levels, but never losing sight of its human core and their fight for survival, despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

Discussion Points:

Michael Sarnoski is the latest small indie director to jump into a larger studio blockbuster project, and thankfully he still retains his own voice, even if the film feels derivative of other action horror alien invasion films. He’s able to balance larger scale disaster scenes with quieter moments of character driven storytelling that help anchor the narrative, with fantastic performances from Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn. I’m a cat person - but Frodo the cat gave me more emotional distress than emotional support and if I’m completely honest - could’ve done without the cat. Whilst the film doesn’t feel as fresh as the first, it still features some really intense action sequences that get the heart pounding and blood pumping. Lupita’s character is particularly engaging and seeing her come to terms with her terminal cancer and mortality in the light of a world-ending disaster is complex and challenging. I wasn’t as invested in Quinn’s character, and felt that more could’ve been done to show how this Day One was impacting the globe as a whole, not just New York City, but was still engaged and found this to be a super effective action thriller with some great moments of tension and some tender moments as well.