Director: John Krasinski

Starring: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and John Krasinski

Rating: ★★★★

I need to make it clear from the beginning that I didn’t like the first quiet place. I thought the characters were stupid and when they left the toy and batteries on the counter at the beginning of the film, in front of their child who is obviously going to pick them back up, It completely took me out of a film and no matter how much it tried, I wasn’t dragged back in. I also haven’t rewatched it to see if I can overlook this on a second viewing.

That being said, I was looking forward to the second film coming out. It looked good from the trailers. A Quiet Place part 2 starts with showing us the beginning of the invasion, showing Day 1. Lee Abbot, played by director John Krasinski, and family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) are at a kid-league baseball match when the aliens hit down. The whole opening is full of tension and horror. It’s perfectly shot, with a fluid camera that follows the family as they run for their lives. It’s hectic, full of panic and truely scary. You’ll find yourself holding your breath with the characters, even though you know they survive at least day 1.

The film then skips to the exact moment the first one ends and gives a short moment of pause before the tension starts to build again. Now that the farm is destroyed Evelyn (Emily Blunt), takes her 2 children to where they know another survivor is holed up. Once they are there they pick up a radio broadcast and Regan (Millicent Simmonds) figures out that they could use this to broadcast the feedback from her hearing aid, which they discovered at the end of the first one would stop the creatures and unmask a vulnerability. Regan, followed by the newcomer Emmett (Cillian Murphy), travel to the source of broadcast.

Much like the first one, this film is filled with tension and a very quiet ambience that makes you feel guilty for moving in your seat or even thinking about taking a snack into the screen. It all adds to the tense horror on screen. There is a few jump-scares throughout but these aren’t heavily leaned on or overused. It works and does create a sense of dread that persists through the whole film.

There is one moment where the new-born baby is in danger of suffocation as they are stuck in an air-tight container to escape a monster. I think the tension fails here slightly. There is no way a mainstream horror film is going to kill a 2 day old baby by suffocation. It’s contrived to add extra tension that falls flat. There is also one moment towards the end that makes little sense. SPOILER ALERT – when they get to the town where the radio broadcast is, they don’t immediately take the hearing aid to broadcast it, which leads to the climatic scene. They leave it until the next morning, as if Regan isn’t bother about her siblings and mother being stuck and potentially surrounded by the monsters, let alone the rest of the survivors who are out there. – End Spoiler. This stupid plot point is just used to create a climatic finale, that could have been avoided if the characters acted like people who have spent the better part of 2 years in this post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Even with this though, it didn’t distract from the film when I was watching it. It bothered me a little, but nothing like the opening of the first one. I enjoyed this one a lot more and I hope a sequel is on the way. It’s just over 90 minutes, which flies past and feels a lot shorter.