Review of A Quiet Place Part II (2021) by Soulwarfare — 25 Jul 2021

A Quiet Place was the most surprising hit in 2018. It gave us something refreshingly new in the horror franchise and it was best of all, a great movie. When a sequel was announced, I wasn't remotely surprised and was also thrilled about it. The premise is "Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path". So does the sequel live up to the first movie?

Firstly, the returning actors Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe are still great in their roles as the Abbott family. Special praise to Noah as there is a scene where he gets hurt and his acting made it seem like he was in actual pain. Their characters also have great character evolution from the first movie. Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) goes from the mother in distress to being the one who has to lead their family. Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmond) now embodies the heroism that her father had and is more forward to helping others. Marcus Abbott (Noah Jupe) is an interesting one as he was always a more frightened character in the first movie and part 2 seems to become more fearful due to the loss of his father. He does have an arc in this movie and it is very satisfying to watch him transform. Cillian Murphy is the newest addition and he is great. He is the opposite of Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) as he plays someone who is a hardened survivor who has little hope, but not zero, for the world. Cillian conveys this pained character perfectly and is a great new protagonist for the sequel.

Additionally, everything else I loved from the first movie is also here. The tension in each set piece is here, the great sound design is here, the effective use of the music score is here, the use of visual storytelling is here, the emphasis on characters and some great monster action is also here. A Quiet Place Part 2 also has an amazing introduction scene that might be one of the best starts to a movie I've seen in a long time. What this sequel does new is that it starts expanding more of the world-building as we see more of the outside world. I like that we get scenes showing day 1 of when the monsters came and I also like that we get to see more different survivors in this new world. If I do have to force myself for some flaws then one would be that it feels a lot less scary than the first movie. While a lot of the monster action in the first movie was in closed and claustrophobic areas, here it is in more open areas which reduces a lot of the scare. There is also something that happens midway which results in two different storylines and perspectives. One perspective is more story focused and the more interesting one while the other is just there to give the other characters a monster set piece. It results in less plot cohesion compared to the first movie. There is also a problem from the first movie that is still here which is some characters still do dumb things. It's not a typical horror movie dumb decision but it can annoy you a bit. There are also some silly things in the plot if you think about it too hard so you got to suspend your belief a little to enjoy the movie. Another small problem I have is the VERY ABRUPT ending. It felt like there should have been at least 5 more minutes of scenes after to give a more satisfying ending. The first movie had an ending that left it open for a potential sequel but was a complete and satisfying ending that didn't need a sequel. Here the ending is a very blatant sequel hook that 100% warrants a sequel as that was not complete at all.

Overall, if you love the first movie then you are definitely going to like part II. Everything that I loved in the first movie is here. While it doesn't do a lot new or better than the 1st, it does the things that made it great in the first place and does it well. While it isn't as great as the first movie, none of the flaws stated take away from the experience. I thoroughly enjoyed A Quiet Place Part II and cannot wait for part 3 or any spinoffs being planned.