John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place movies are love letters to humanity, kids, and the lengths we’re willing to go to in order to protect each other. A Quiet Place: Day One is no exception to the franchise’s legacy, providing the same amount of heart and distinction to remind viewers what matters most in dark times.
Some might argue that a prequel wasn’t necessary. We already saw the initial invasion in A Quiet Place II, but what Day One does compellingly is how it reveals the reality of when a city as bustling and boisterous as New York is forced into silence. This detail makes Michael Sarnoski’s film the most haunting because, like we experienced during the pandemic, Broadway stages and businesses shutting down as uncertainties fill the air make for the most chilling experiences. It didn’t feel real until cities like New York and Los Angeles went quiet.
Like these characters, we weren’t sure what would happen then, and quite frankly, we aren’t today, either. Yes, things are back to normal, but are they really? Thus, a prequel like Day One feels imperative to showcase the damaging effects not only on human experiences but also on the legacies and history that we find in our cities. Bridges collapsing and cities burning down are more jarring in films like this than in any Marvel movie. We know those variations will be fixed. This feels permanent. It feels raw. It makes it as difficult for us to watch as it is for the characters to attempt survival.
Further, another detail to factor in with these films is the cast. I will forever scream from every rooftop that Emily Blunt deserved every award in existence for her performance in the first film, and I’ll now say the same about Lupita Nyong’o. A Quiet Place: Day One is a heartbreaking film from the moment it opens up with Sam in hospice care with her cat, and Nyong’o makes us feel every ounce of her character’s pain right until the moment when she gets a bit of joy and New York pizza to (temporarily) fix the damages done. It’s fascinating, really, how the film makes such a simple thing feel like it’s the best thing in the world. But quite frankly, in her shoes, I’d do the same: protect my cat and get pizza as a final meal.
All of this becomes even more poignant and reflective of humanity at its best when she meets Joseph Quinn’s Eric, a shy aspiring lawyer from Kent who doesn’t want to be left alone.
Quinn carries an innate, profoundly relatable sadness so well in his expression that it makes his tortured characters extremely loveable. (The same can be said about Eddie Munson in Stranger Things). There’s a reflection and warmth that he plays off other actors with, which makes every moment he’s on screen feel like a gift.
As the two embark on a mission of silence together, the film delivers moments of vulnerability with such depth that it feels like something we haven’t seen before. (We have, especially with these films, yet it feels novel and just as heartwarming that people can still look out for each other.) With this, A Quiet Place: Day One feels more haunting than the original. We’re watching something we know the outcome of, yet we can’t look away, which makes the emotions we start to carry more heightened. The ending doesn’t come as a shock because the film plants the seeds of where it will go, yet it gives us beats of sincerity that make it feel lovely even amid the heartache. Most importantly, the cat, Frodo survives, and that’s something I know many of us are on the lookout for.
A Quiet Place: Day One is now playing in theaters.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Paramount Pictures