Review of A Quiet Place (2016) by Benjamin H — 01 May 2018

A Quiet Place is a film that is beautiful in every sense of the word. It's scary, it's visually remarkable, and above all it's heartfelt. From a pure storytelling stance, it paces itself perfectly as it drops the audience directly into a nightmarish world and focuses the people living in that world rather than on the specifics of that world itself. This is a story about people and how they always find reasons to keep living in spite of sometimes unforgiving circumstances. It succeeds as a horror because it plays upon something that every person truly fears: failing to protect those they love.

The performances in this movie are absolutely phenomenal. They are real and raw. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski display and evoke genuine emotion as they portray parents that would sacrifice anything for their children. There is nearly no dialogue in this movie (when there is, it's heart-wrenching and authentic), yet these actors somehow make you care so much about the characters they portray. I was in tears at certain parts of this movie as I felt so connected to the hardships this family endures.

Everything visually about the film is near-perfect. From set design to the cinematography, all of it makes the world real and further serves to bring you into the world that has been created here.

Now, I am not saying that this movie is perfect. There are a couple instances of over-reliance on jump scares. In addition to that, the quick and effective pacing leaves plenty of room for unanswered questions. But those questions don't really translate into plot holes. They're just questions that, if given enough thought, do have answers. The reason I give this a perfect score is not because it's a perfect movie, but because it is a masterpiece. It's the most entertained I have ever been in a movie theatre, and it succeeds at everything it attempts to convey: horror, selling the world it creates, and tugging at the heart-strings. There is nothing that sticks out as being an unforgivable flaw in A Quiet Place, and for that reason, I consider it a masterpiece of filmmaking in every conceivable way.

Story: 10.

Acting: 10.

Script: 10.

Visuals/Sound: 10.

Entertainment Value: 10.

OVERALL SCORE: 10/10.