Review of A Quiet Place (2018) by Thunderboltway — 06 Apr 2018

Some of the flaws of the moviegoing experience were not really the fault of the film itself: Seeing the film in a crowded theater, you are immediately assured that John K is a skilled visual storyteller -- well-prepared to present a mostly non-verbal film -- but also horrified to remember that modern audiences, especially PG-13 audiences, are far too squirmy and hyperactive to behave in front of a slow-burn story featuring very long stretches of silence. While no one openly made fart noises (thankfully), the tension in the movie was painfully subverted by that of knowing the crowd (of mostly inbred teens) were getting super restless, playing on their phones, talking, whatever, and wondering when one of these rats would act out that collective frustration. In this case, it would have been worth it to throw in some extra curse words or violence to earn that R-rating just to weed out the riff-raff. So, heads up: See it late on a weeknight, or while the kiddies are in school!

Secondly, the trailer spoiled a major plot event to the movie's disservice. Not John K's fault, but seriously, seeing the event from the trailer play out in the movie ruined all of the film's intended impact for that scene, maybe the most important scene in the film NOT TO SPOIL, you stupid trailer editor.

Thirdly, knowing John K is a writer (one of three), the director, and a primary actor in the film, also casting his real wife as his movie wife, who is really the star of the film, straddles a very fine line between passion project with convenient talent and built-in chemistry on-hand and nepotist vanity project. The film's reliance on "family" themes were front and center, making this element a little distracting considering how much emphasis was placed upon the parenting skills of the duo and in particular the stoic-martyr-machismo of Krasinski's character.

John K's strong suits: Hiring a great cast / crew, knowing how to craft a scene, how to tell a story with an eye for suspense, how to Spielberg and how to Shyamalan.

John K's weak suits: Knowing how much to trust his audience (and by extension, his characters), world-building, being unguarded against self-servitude and nepotism and egotism, repetitive (yet silent) exposition, over-reliance on jump scares, plot holes.

These are somewhat unusual problems for a film to have, and that Kras came out of nowhere and avoided so many problems that are very common for first-time films (and horror films in general) to have is exceptional and noteworthy. It seemed well-cooked and classic, not rushed to theaters or sophomoric. John K, like Jordan Peele last year, is headed for horror mastery.

I wish I had seen this twice rather than "It Comes At Night" once.