Movie Info
Movie Info
- Director
- Michael Sarnoski
- Run Time
- 1 hour and 39 minutes
- Rating
- PG-13
VP Content Ratings
- Violence
- 4/10
- Language
- 1/10
- Sex & Nudity
- 1/10
- Star Rating
Relevant Quotes
Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them. And I commended the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive, but better than both is the one who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.
Note: toward the end there is a spoiler.
Too often the third film of a franchise is a disappointment, but in this prequel to the two “Quiet Place” films, this is not the case. The director of the quirky Nicolas Cage film Pig, Michael Sarnoski directs and is one of three scriptwriters (along with the original writer of A Quiet Place, Bryan Woods, and John Krasinski, star and director of A Quiet Place). Together, these three have come up with an end of civilization tale that is not just filled with pyrotechnics, but includes scenes that touch the heart.
The previous two films, in which the Abbott family seeking to survive in silence the ravenous alien invaders, took place in a small town. In case you wonder what the alien invasion must have been like in a metropolis, this origin film is set in NYC, where, we are told at the beginning, the noise reaches 90 decibels, “the level of a scream.” Samira “Sam” (Lupita Nyong’o), a poet hit by terminal cancer, lives with her cat Frodo in a hospice. Her group leader Reuben (Alex Wolff) herds her and others onto a bus for a field trip to a Manhattan theater. She is not thrilled that it is a puppet show and asks that afterward they be taken to Harlem to visit her favorite pizza parlor, Patsy’s.
High in the sky what seem to be meteors hurtle toward the ground. Then four-legged, crab-like alien creatures attack the crowds, and in the chaos, Sam is knocked unconscious. She wakes up and is motioned to stay quiet. In this brief period humans have learned that the blind aliens have hyper-intensity ears that can pick up a human voice from far off. Outside, military planes are destroying Manhattan’s bridges because it also has been learned that the aliens cannot swim. Over loudspeakers the authorities announce that people should flee to boats at the South Pier for evacuation. But as crowds head in that direction, they create the noise that draws the aliens, whose attacks devastate them.
Amidst the haze created by the dust of blasted and fallen debris, Sam heads with her cat toward Harlem. She encounters a law student named Eric (Joseph Quinn) in a state of shock. She tries to send him away, but he is so dazed that he continues to follow her and Frodo. As it will turn out, this is a good thing. When he comes to his senses, he will be a valuable ally. They have a number of adventures, with several times Frodo becoming separated from them, but eventually finding them again. There are one or two shots of dazed groups of New Yorkers, their skin and clothing covered in dust, that will call to mind those all-too real scenes after 9/11.
The trio do reach Harlem where thanks to Eric, Sam does get to dine on her pizza. Here, too, Sam chooses how she will die while saving her beloved Frodo and new friend Eric. At this point we are re-introduced to a character who had helped Sam when she had regained consciousness back in the puppet theater, and who also appears in the A Quiet Place: Part II, Henri (Djimon Hounsou). He will also help rescue Eric and Frodo at the climax, thus concluding the horror story on a hopeful note.
With little dialogue, much depends on the actors to make us care about their fate, and this they do magnificently. There is a delightful scene in an apartment when, as in the first film, a greater sound is used to cover up the human voice. A thunderstorm rages over Manhattan, and Sam and Eric carefully time the thunderclaps so they can let out primal screams, releasing their fury and fright. Eric has read Sam’s book of poetry, and for a brief time they enjoy reading it together.
As you regular readers know, I am not a fan of the horror genre, but this is a humane one that explores how we choose to live and die, as well as how even with strangers we sometimes are able to make connections that are life-affirming. It is not a film for young children, but for families with older ones able to take frights and violence, it will provide lots of thrills and thoughtful moments. And Sam provides an example of something that Jesus says late in the Gospel of John—and which I will not give the chapter and verse here because I do not want to spoil the conclusion any more than I already have.
This review will be in the August issue of VP along with a set of questions for reflection and/or discussion. If you have found reviews on this site helpful, please consider purchasing a subscription or individual issue in The Store.
Paramount Pictues
