I love this movie! Director (and lead) John Krasinski (known for his role in the television show The Office as Jim Halpert) takes a simple idea—monsters that can hunt by sound—and executes it so well.
I appreciate when silence is effectively used in a film, so it was inevitable that I would like a film whose premise is exactly that. But, man! Seeing this in a full room was amazing—a packed theater, and yet you could still hear a pin drop.
For those wondering, A Quiet Place is not a scary film, but man, is it tense. Krasinski and company make the great choice to reveal the monsters right off the bat enough so we understand their unrivaled dominance over man, which makes the setting of the film, a farm, feel earned. Never once was I clamoring to see what was out past the intimate setting, like I was in It Comes At Night or the first Purge film, because I understood that there was nothing out there except death. This film definitely captures lightning in a bottle with its premise and screenplay, but it’s just about as good as any a suspenseful thriller we’ve seen in recent years.
The film features a small (and great) cast, and utilizes a claustrophobic set design and cinematography to add to the tension. Sure, there are some cheap scares scattered here and there, and the final 30 seconds of the film felt a little silly to me (though they do set up a pretty cool sequel that’s already in the works), but the journey to those final moments is a blast.
Of course, the sound design was amazing, to the point that I’m almost rooting for this film to get a bit of love come 2018 Oscar season. The sound design had to be good to sell this, and they knocked it out of the park.
The characters are a bit shallow since they can’t talk much, but that complaint is really splitting hairs. At the end of the day, A Quiet Place really innovates within a genre that desperately needs it, and I hope it makes a bajillion dollars, because we need more studio films to take risks like it does.
What do you have for us next, Jim . . . I mean, John? (You’ll always be Jim Halpert in my heart, and I love you for it.)
