A Quiet Place Part II: A Slight improvement over the first

Rob Ryan ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2

A Quiet Place Part II comes three years after the solid but overhyped first film which was both a critical and box office success, exploiting the gimmick of a horror movie about silence being the key to survival against horrific, disgruntled monsters that have overrun the world. The creatures are blind but due to them possessing hypersensitive hearing, it allows them to kill anyone who makes the most noise. While I didn't the first film lived up to its fullest potential based on relying too heavily on loud noises, it proved to be most effective amongst movie audiences and their anticipation of when the long stretches of silence will be concluded with a loud jump scare. This second film however while still maintaining some of the same issues and raises more questions about the worldbuilding than answers is a surprising improvement over the first film thanks to small subtle changes which help let the overall gimmick of the film shine better.

Our story begins a day after the first film's events when Lee (John Krasinski, the film's writer and director) the patriarch of the surviving Abbot family sacrificed himself to save his family. Leaving his family to fend for themselves, including mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt) deaf daughter Reagan (Milicent Simmonds) pre-teen son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and Evelyn's newborn son who is fed with oxygen in order to keep him quiet. They venture off to search for survivors after their farm is in ruins, armed with nothing but a shot-gun and a guitar amplifier used in the first film to play high-frequency audio to help weaken the creatures. (though why they still choose to wear nothing on their feet I have no idea, just put some socks on at least)

After nearly facing certain death (not before a nasty incident involving a bear-trap) they are taken in by Lee's good friend Emmett (Cillian Murphy) whose entire family has been killed and has given up all hope. Whilst sheltered in his bunker in an abandoned warehouse, They discover a distress signal on their radio set to Jack Lawrence's Beyond the Sea and Regan concludes that this is meant to take them to a nearby island occupied by survivors. Against her mother's wishes, she ventures out to follow the signal by herself. Evelyn urges Emmet to go and find her while she looks after Marcus and the baby and soon after finding her reluctantly joins her on her journey.

There's a decent amount of the thing's that set it apart from the first film. For one, the choice to expand the scale of the movie as opposed to keeping it in one location furthers the stakes as it's uncertain of how the creatures are going to reveal themselves in each new location the characters come across in. One example involves an abandoned train with the bodies still left there decaying over a year since the invasion. The slow exploration of the abandoned, dusty carriage leads to a wide shot of a massive hole left behind, revealing the presence of the creatures is still felt, waiting to show themselves at any moment. Well crafted scenes such as this keep the concept of the movie fresh, giving it less room for it to become stale. The choice to expand outside the farm also makes the apocalyptic world feel way more organic, fleshing out the societal fallout as a result of the creature's invasion and people's response to it, from the cynical doomers such as Emmett to the people outside who still cling on to hope.

But perhaps the most noteworthy improvement of the sequel is its use of sound. Whereas the first film felt too intrusive with its use of jumpscare stinger's and loud music, A Quiet Place Part II's use of both is delivered with a bit more restraint, this most notable in the score by Marco Beltrami who's music for the first film felt over a present for a film about trying to stay quiet, hear his music is way more patient and appropriate and relies more on minimal ambience than a loud bombastic orchestra and when the score does call for something more bone-chilling, it feels way more earned and fitting. While I wouldn't say it's a great score overall, it's nowhere near as distracting as it could have been.

With its use of music and loud non-diegetic sound used sparingly, This gives more room for some of the more powerful moment's in the film to be delivered through the film's beautiful cinematography and nothing else. This is perfectly utilised in getting in the head of Regan whose deafness gives her more vulnerability in a world overrun with monsters. The few moments that the film allows the audience to experience the world through her shoes (I.E In complete silence) is used to heart-pounding and oftentimes heartbreaking effect. It helps that deaf actress Millicent Simmonds is effective both not only in displaying a range of emotions but her lack of normal communication and her way of getting through to the characters is dynamic and call's for the audience for their complete attention. The scene where she and Emmet get through to each other due to his minimal knowledge of American sign language is compelling in its simplicity of displaying what the character's want but is a learning curve for not only Emmet getting through to her but for the two characters to help each other, with Emmet helping Regan on her mission in honour of her late father who she looked up too and Regan helping Emmet regain some hope after experiencing grief in losing those he loved.

While these arcs are fairly simple as far as post-apocalyptic narratives go, the quietness and minimal dialogue displayed in these moment's leaves little room for the arc's of the film to be reinforced through exposition. As a result, the film lets the emotions and feeling's of the character's speak for themselves rather than dwelling on them for 10 minutes. It makes me long for mainstream blockbusters to actually make use of this kind of visual storytelling more often as less can sometimes be more.

With that being said, there are still flaws within the film that shouldn't go unnoticed, there are moment's where character's make questionable and stupid decisions as par for the course for most horror movies these day's and a character who's introduced over halfway through the film that anyone who has watched any horror movie could tell that he's not going to make to the end of the movie. Also, the way in which the film tries to tie the events simultaneously is a little bit far fetched and contrived. Without spoiling too much. similar events happen to our character's that seem to happen at the same time as each other and bit's such as this stretch credibility a little too much as a thing that happens to our character's in one scene, is too perfect and convenient for our characters further away from them and that type of narrative device is too much to buy and get behind.

However, as someone who wasn't too thrilled about seeing this film, I'm surprised at how much I had fun with this and John Krasinski who is at the helm of both movies is definitely finding his footing as a filmmaker. It's very well-paced wasting no time whatsoever, a way more effective display of how sound can make a horror movie work and the characters are likeable enough that you want to see them fight another day. Even the way they communicate through sign language offers a different dimension to storytelling and character development that people might not have considered before. Anyone who criticised the first film for its plot holes and its inconsistencies probably won't is satisfied with the answers it displays although these films don't seem to be interested in answering these questions and instead are more interested in being a tale of human survival and helping each other and on that front A Quiet Place Part II works.

A Quiet Place Part II is available in cinemas now