{"id":16578,"date":"2021-05-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=16578"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:14:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:14:32","slug":"review-a-quiet-place-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-a-quiet-place-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: A Quiet Place Part II<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The opening sequence of John Krasinski\u2019s A Quiet Place Part II<\/em> deliberately, even painstakingly, echoes the visual language of the previous film\u2019s cold open \u2013 but on \u201cDay 1,\u201d rather than \u201cDay 89\u201d. The stoplight is working and the pharmacy that Lee Abbott (Krasinski) pops into is still operational. But its proprietor is glued to his television, broadcasting a news report of some catastrophic event. \u201cA bomb, I think,\u201d he says. Lee shrugs, and heads off to enjoy that most all-American of activities \u2013 a Little League baseball game, with his son on the field and his family in the stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This opening is a classic Hitchcockian bomb-under-the-table sequence \u2013 we know what\u2019s coming, and we wait, tensely, for the mysterious fire in the sky to appear. The ensuing panic is harrowing, particularly since, again, we know what potential victims should not do; while hiding in a dive bar, someone says the Lord\u2019s prayer, but Lee covers the man\u2019s mouth, because the Lord\u2019s not gonna save him from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he did in 2018\u2019s A Quiet Place<\/em>, director Krasinski displays impressively sturdy craftsmanship, though it\u2019s worth noting that this entire opening is, basically, the alien attack scene from Spielberg\u2019s War of the Worlds<\/em>. It\u2019s the most successful sequence in A Quiet Place Part II<\/em>, and also the first indication of the sequel\u2019s mistakes. You see, one of the most compelling elements of the original film was how it made us put together how the world came to this \u2013 so of course the first thing its sequels shows us is that very thing, in explicit detail. And the effectiveness of the original film was found, to a great extent, in its compactness: confined to one location, laser-focused on one family and their strained relationships. So of course this one sends them out into the post-apocalyptic world, and has them spend most of the running time separated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structurally, the sequel folds around the original: after that flashback opening, we jump to the very moment the first film ended, as newly single mom (and again-new mom) Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) pumps her shotgun, armed not only with that weapon but the knowledge that she can use the feedback from deaf daughter Regan\u2019s makeshift cochlear implant to weaken the alien monsters that have taken over the planet. (The explicitness of the callbacks might require more specific memory of the details of the original than the casual viewer has likely retained, but revisiting the first one is a risky proposition \u2013 because the follow-up suffers so much in comparison.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So with Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe), and the newborn in tow, they hit the road, for reasons not entirely clear. They\u2019ve barely left their home before Marcus\u2019s foot is in a bear trap and the baby is crying – this seems like a bad idea! \u2013 but it turns out Cillian Murphy wasn\u2019t just making a casual cameo in that opening sequence, but will in fact step become the picture\u2019s Krasinski surrogate. Regan, however, is trying to fill her dad\u2019s shoes herself, decoding a radio message that she believes will take them to an island of survivors, where they can\u2026 use her implant information, I guess?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, the hardened Emmett (Murphy) discourages this idea, as does Evelyn, but Regan goes anyway, so Evelyn sends Emmett to find her and bring her back. It seems like a big ask, but understandable one; presumably, she doesn\u2019t want to go herself because she doesn\u2019t want to leave her (one day old!) baby. But then she leaves anyway, a couple of scenes later, leaving the baby in the care of Marcus, who starts wandering around their hideaway for no good reason, and\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s pull out of the rabbit hole here, because these questions and logical fallacies mostly serve to make one key point: Nobody in this movie does a goddamn thing that makes one lick of sense. Wisdom of child-rearing aside, A Quiet Place<\/em> was held together by its clockwork logic and sure sense of cause and effect; that\u2019s all out the window here, and the film suffers badly for it. As the family members carry out their individual, inexplicable missions, Krasinski smashes his scenes together like blunt instruments, and at times, there\u2019s an ugly cruelty to how he uses his intercutting to draw out the suffering and fear of his characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the midpoint, even the central gimmick \u2013 you have to be super quiet or you die! \u2013 has run its course, and while I won\u2019t spoil the events of the third act, they are, by any reasonable measurement, monumentally stupid. The first film\u2019s screenplay was penned by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, with Krasinski jumping on for a rewrite before directing; the new film is written solely by Kraninski, and when that credit pops up at the end of the film, it explains much of what\u2019s come before. Krasinski shows so little understanding of the virtues of the first film, it\u2019s sort of amazing he directed it so competently; here, left to his own devices, he\u2019s adrift. The picture never makes a compelling case for it\u2019s own existence \u2013 there was simply no more story to tell. It\u2019s as simple as that, and A Quiet Place Part II<\/em> proves that point, over and over again. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“A Quiet Place Part II” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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