Movie review: ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is the third installment in the “A Quiet Place” franchise and is the first film not directed by John Krasinski. Instead, Krasinski handed the reins over to director Michael Sarnoski and chose to co-write the story alongside Sarnoski.

Ever since the release of the first film, fans have been begging for a prequel to gain further world establishment and lore. With a new director in the hot seat, the long awaited prequel is finally here, but is it worth the excitement?

The third film immediately had a challenge ahead of it because of the fact that it follows the emotional juggernauts that are “A Quiet Place” part one and two.

The previous story has been fully fleshed out, so Krasinski and Sarnoski had to come up with an entirely new plot, while simultaneously competing with the expected story quality that fans have come to know and love from this series.

This film may not be as memorable as the original because of the lack of a family dynamic and the fear of losing a child but there are new ties to keep viewers emotionally invested.

The new story introduced new main characters. These characters are Sam, who is played by Lupita Nyong’o, and Eric, who is played by Joseph Quinn. Of course we cannot forget to also give credit to the two cats who played Frodo – Sam’s emotional support animal – Schnitzel and Nico.

The beginning of the film introduced Sam as a poet who has cancer. This is also where the audience is introduced to Frodo, who will become increasingly more important throughout the film's runtime.

As with both previous films, this prequel surrounds the topic of an alien invasion on earth.

When the alien invasion begins, Sam is in New York City. The city  is arguably one of the loudest cities in the United States and not the place you want to be when surrounded by aliens who hunt based on sound.

This scene feels incredibly chaotic but what stuck out most was the cinematography right before, during and after the aliens land.

In these moments, the shots are longer and the lighting is used to project Sam’s feelings of isolation onto the viewer. The angle is immediately switched where the view is fixated on Sam, while she tries to make sense of the chaos that unfolds around her.

Overall this is a very visually pleasing movie, and the cinematography compensates for some areas where the film is lacking in quality.

This film attempted to handle heavy topics such as killing for the survival of the group, but when it does, it comes off rushed and ultimately, pointless. This is how a lot of the film feels – as though the film-makers originally wanted to have a longer runtime but had to make too many cuts in post-production.

Sam eventually decides to embark on a journey to find the last slice of pizza in the city. This evolves into a major plot event. On her journey to find pizza, Sam and Eric eventually cross paths. Eric knows that he wants to stick with Sam, even though Sam does not want him to come with her.

Sam wants Eric to leave the city while she returns to her quest – probably because she wants all of the pizza for herself and Frodo. As ridiculous as the plot is for this film, it works because it is realistic. Who wouldn’t want to control what their last meal is? And what better last meal is there than pizza?

The plot is memorable because it is so odd, but ultimately, the characters feel empty. There are qualities within each of them that viewers will be able to relate to; however, the characters feel like there was much more depth to them initially.

The thing that makes “A Quiet Place: Day One” suffer is the fact that it feels like it deserves to be as fleshed out as the original two films, instead of being packed into a one hour and forty minute journey. Two hours would have done this film wonders.

One thing that the film did really well was the sound design. As usual with the films in this franchise, there is a heavy emphasis on silence and natural sounds, and this film is no exception.

The sound adds a tension to the atmosphere when it needs to, and evokes emotion when it is required. All three films benefit from a good surround sound system, which movie theaters always have the best of. This will allow audiences to hear everything from the screams, to the shuffling of footsteps or the light tapping of Frodo’s paws.

Ultimately, the fact that this prequel explains nothing about the aliens or any other kind of backstory can be a little upsetting, but it makes for a nice new story within the series.

Some fans may be bothered by the fact that we are simply watching another story unfold rather than being told all of the underlying details of the original, but this is something that has come to be expected of the series.

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is a suspense film, rather than a horror film, with only two memorable jumpscares and an overall a thriller vibe instead of the typical dread that is associated with horror films. It will be up to the viewer to decide if this prequel was ultimately worth the excitement.