A review of Quiet Place II: a little better than the first film and a little worse

A quiet place part II is something like what you’d get if the alien hunter from the Predator franchise came over This is us for a couple of episodes. The film is a horror story with the heart of a family drama and for the most part works very well. But just like real families, it’s pretty consistent in both its strengths and shortcomings – in other words, it’s the perfect sequel for fans of the original film, while it isn’t too bad at welcoming viewers who might be the first Missed the round.

Part II begins with an extended prequel before the first film, which shows the arrival of the deadly, almost indestructible aliens, who by then have wiped out a large part of the population A quiet place begins. Writer and director John Krasinski introduces the Abbott family again: parents Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and children Marcus (Noah Jupe) and Regan (Millicent Simmonds). While the family gathers to watch a Little League game, we’re also reminded that the Abbotts are unusually well equipped to deal with what’s to come: Lee is a survivor type (as evidenced by the large hunting knife with which he cuts an orange). and the family all speak ASL to communicate with Regan who is deaf.

Besides giving Part II

the opportunity to bring back Lee, who died in A quiet placeThe prologue also helps educate viewers who haven’t seen the first movie about the rules of this particular apocalypse, and reminds returning fans who need a refresher. The sequence, which takes place in the small town of New York, upstate the Abbotts, in the last moments before the world goes to hell, is a great piece of disaster film, a terrifying reintroduction into the blind creatures that brutally chase people through sounds while They romp through little -town America.

Later, A quiet place part II begins immediately after the end of the first film with Abbott’s survivors in their ruined farmhouse, who for the first time successfully killed an alien creature. Figuring out the trick to fight them gives the abbots a chance to survive as they are forced to find a new home, but it is nowhere near enough to make them feel safe.

For one thing, they now have a baby to look after, one that was born during the incredibly stressful climax of the first film. Babies are not known to be silent or to understand threats, and these put the whole family at risk. On the other hand, the abbots have largely survived in seclusion and do not know what the world looks like now that society has collapsed. When they start look ing for a new refuge, they soon find out.

A quiet place was according to Krasinskiabout parenting. With that in mind, the sequel is about parents letting go of children and trusting that they will take care of themselves. Before long, the abbots will have to part and have separate adventures, and the children will have to face the monsters themselves. Regan in particular carries most of the dramatic weight of the film, and a phenomenal performance by deaf actress Millicent Simmonds overcomes a script that diverges into uncomfortable territory in its portrayal of disability as a superpower.

Most of the time the sequel takes the highs of the first movie a little higher while the lows are about the same. A quiet place part II It continues to play a huge role in playing with horror’s deep relationship with sound, using wonderfully mixed audio to realign the audience’s feel for all sorts of things, and using that threat to add tension. Fears are torn from the silence through sound, staging and performance, and the smallest bump can shock the viewer with the horror of a shot. While thrills are the main draw, the cast of the film does a tremendous job with dramatic scenes communicated in ASL. The care taken in these more intimate scenes goes a long way in smoothing out the way disability is incorporated into the genre conceit. Part IILike the movie before, he risks being arrogant building a finale where a hearing aid will save the world, but it at least does the job of rooting that moment in Regan’s arch of independence.

A quiet place part II often succumbs to a conservatism that holds him back. It is worth highlighting that the abbots embody a white and traditional vision of the family and their paternalistic attitude is almost completely ignoring Evelyn, who has a lot to do but no real story. Krasinski wants to celebrate his deaf heroine for their differences, but also weighs her guilt over the death of his character and makes her primary fight a need to prove that she can care about people the way he could. None of that makes it a bad movie – just a smaller one than it could be.

A quiet place part II fluctuates most in the way it tries to get bigger than the original film, either thematically or in scope. The movie is at its most awkward when it reaches its climax. The Abbotts and their ex-neighbor Emmett (Cillian Murphy) split into three groups, each trying to achieve the impossible in a cross-cut finale. It’s the kind of spectacle that is effective enough the first time, but may not play as well on repeated viewing. But ultimately it’s forgivable because A quiet place part II isn’t exactly a horror film, but an unusually stressful family film where all of the learning required is accompanied by horrific violence.

It’s hard to indulge A quiet place part II but much. Running at 97 minutes, it’s a sleek and mean thriller with a lot of heart, even if it’s a bit thin. It’s the kind of sequel that feels like a middle chapter, with its dangerous road trip structure designed to establish a new status quo for its characters. In the end, it plays its story a bit too sure: it’s enough to make another potentially interesting film when Krasinski has a different story to tell, but not enough to convince viewers they’ll like it. Despite the fact that these films have a unique interest in silence, they must have something more to say.

A quiet place part II is now in theaters and is expected to debut for streaming on Paramount Plus on July 12th.