"A Quiet Place" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Every year, there's always that one horror movie that everyone talks about. It's something that has somewhat underground appeal, but is also being hyped enough to get talked about in the mainstream. Last year, that film was "It Comes At Night", the year before "Lights Out", and the year before that "The Witch". This year the big hyped horror film comes in "A Quiet Place". Probably the biggest reason this film has been getting so much attention is because John Krasinski, a comedian and most well-known for playing Jim Halpert in "The Office", is directing it. This is actually not his directorial debut like many have claimed; it's his third. But still, this is his most hyped directorial movie to date. The film takes place in an unknown time, and focuses on a family in a world that is very barren of people. The reason for that: there are creatures that can kill people with the skill of hearing the tiniest sound. Throughout this film, we watch the Abbott family fighting for survival while trying to figure out the best way to kill these creatures. This movie, thank goodness, lives up to the hype, and even exceeded my expectations. It has an excellent cast, beautifully assured direction from John, and a feeling of tension that just never lets up in the film's tight hour and a half run time.

Something that immediately satisfied me about this film in its horror aspect is sort of back to the basics. While I have enjoyed a lot of these horror movies which incorporate symbolism and a lot of different plot-twists, I appreciate this film for being a straight forward, but still innovative, survival horror movie. You will definitely see that John was influenced by other creature films such as "Alien" or "Tremors". Something that this movie does which I've not really seen a whole lot of horror films do is make the silence the main component of the scares. Right from the beginning of the movie there is a feeling of unsettling quiet that just won't let up. The first shot of the Abbott family shopping in a grocery store could've been so standard, but instead there are clever shots incorporated in of them walking on their tiptoes or ever so softly putting items down. The cold open of this movie in general is incredible. I don't want to entirely spoil it to you, but the sound of a toy rocket ship will fill you with more dread than you could've ever possibly imagined. I think this movie's silence practically demands your attention. I've never been in a movie theater more quiet, and you could hear the slightest sound. It's like the theater knew it was taboo to even try to make a sound, as a lot of people weren't even trying to touch their food. This film's horror aspect plays you so easily, and that is thanks to Krasinski's consistently well-done direction. There's so many moments throughout that I think will be ingrained in my memory. There's a bathtub scene with Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) just trying to avoid one of the creatures. That one singular goal makes this scene incredibly tense and frightening, and it goes on for quite a few minutes. This film does right by making dialogue at an absolute minimum. When the dialogue is there, it's impactful and important. This film is scary and suspenseful, pure and simple. The silence is not a gimmick, but rather important to making the horror work. The tension is white-knuckled, and there's no denying that you can really feel it as the film keeps going. We do not see much of the creatures at all, which works very well as it keeps the mystery alive. When we do see the creatures, they are certainly a frightening sight to behold. The horror aspect alone of this film makes it worth watching.

The performances in this film are all also incredible. It's a small cast of four people, and because of that, a lot is demanded out of every performer. As I expected, Emily Blunt is excellent as Evelyn Abbott. Evelyn is a compelling character for sure, as you can see her fighting for her family's life as well as her yet-to-be-born baby. I feel like Blunt makes Emily a very multi-faceted character. We see a lot of vulnerability to her, especially in her touchingly realistic relationship with Lee (of course, part of the reason it feels so real is that John and Emily are married in real life). Her love for her children is shown over and over. But, there's also an undeniable strength about her, as she has to face against the creature in that significant bathtub moment. I loved her character arc, and there wasn't one moment that I didn't believe Blunt's performance. The real highlight of the movie for me, though, was John Krasinski as Lee. I've only been used to John in more comedic types of roles, so this movie already had me excited to see what he could do in a more dramatic performance. And man, did he blow me away. Krasinski has so much range throughout this movie, able to give off a variety of emotions. The love he has for Evelyn is powerful. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a more authentic relationship on-screen than the one between these two characters. There's something about this couple that is refreshing to me, and that might be the fact that so often in films we see relationships that are fraught with many problems, and constant conflict and hate. Not so with this couple, as their love for one another stays consistent throughout the film. I think Lee's character arc is one of the most sympathetic. And yet, Krasinski doesn't try to make this movie about him; it's very clear this whole movie is about how much he cares for his family. The heart of this movie comes in Millicent Simmonds as Regan Abbott. This movie's emphasis on silence often comes through this character, who is deaf. I think it was a smart idea to have her in the film, as it lends towards a lot of interesting moments throughout the movie. I also think that John made a good move in hiring an actor who is actually deaf. Because Simmonds is deaf in real life, her performance is obviously going to be more real feeling to the audience. It's also inspiring to see a minority group who isn't represented that often being in this film. She relies entirely on facial emotions throughout the film, and she absolutely nails it. You can feel every emotion from her, and I think she brought so much weight to her character. Regan goes through the most change in this film, and the payoff of where she ends up at made me very happy. I also have to give significant honorable mention to the Abbott son Marcus, played excellently by Noah Jupe. This very young actor has been in a lot of great films lately that have been getting recognition, and I haven't seen a weak performance by him yet. In fact, his performance here is probably his best yet. This actor and Simmonds both have very promising futures.

There are very few issues that I have with this film. In fact, the only one that I can identify is that there are a few cheap jump scares. They only appear a couple times in the film. I'll admit they were a little irritating, especially one particularly cliched one where the payoff was that it was just a racoon. Thankfully, though, these types of jump scares are in low quantity. They ultimately don't contribute significantly to the quality of the movie at all. "A Quiet Place" is a horror movie that is getting deserved praise from critics and audiences alike. It has enough influence from older films for it to appeal to a wide demographic, and there is enough innovation in it for it to be appreciated as a completely original film. There have been other films like this, where silence is the key to fighting against mysterious creatures. But, I think this film puts such a cool twist on it that it works immensely well. Congratulations to John Krasinski for making what is an undeniably masterful horror movie, as well as a film that is sure to make it into my top 10 movies of the year!