A Quiet Place: Part II
Spoiler-free review
by Alexandra
“A Quiet Place: Part II” follows on from the previous film, where we left Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) presumably dead after sacrificing himself to allow his family to survive. His wife, Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt), deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and newborn baby, have to leave their shelter and go looking for another place to stay.
As the protagonists reluctantly walk around with their bloodied feet and the story unravels, a sinister feeling creeps in, then hits suddenly: there are two threats now in the world and one of them can find you even when you’re quiet. It is more difficult to run away from it because, like you, it also walks around on bloodied feet and tries to avoid the monsters.
The actors are brilliant, just like in the prequel. Evelyn Abbott is an Amazon, and so were her kids, it turns out. Emily Blunt proves once again that her casting was a genius move as it takes a certain kind of actress to portray tenderness, determination, desperation and leadership, all at the same time and all believable. I pity any monster who meets Evelyn, she is the epitome of a fierce and resilient mother who will do the impossible to find a safe place for her children.
Millicent Simmonds plays Regan Abbott beautifully. She embodies a mix of her mother and her father, taking grit and determination from one and hope and resilience from the other. She represents those who do not give up home in the face of calamity and who face it calmly and inquisitively, looking for a way to unpick any issue- or to save the world from creatures with hypersensitive hearing.
Cillian Murphy plays Emment, a former friend of the Lee family, who has turned into a hopeless man, bitter with loneliness. Murphy does a good job, his performance is at times soft, then rough, although there is a certain edge the character lacks. As it stands it fits the story perfectly without fault, but perhaps more grit, more angst, would have benefitted character development.
John Krasinski did a great job with writing and directing this film. It captivates the audiences, from every leaf crushed under a naked foot, to the trill of a bird (please, don’t let it summon the monsters), to the morbid curiosity of inspecting every close-up of the creatures. It portrays the story of a family who crawls, shoots and scratches its way to a shelter, embodying the hope of the human race and a certain pride and stubbornness that keeps people going in spite of an enemy far superior in physical prowess. The film’s score keeps the audiences on the edge of their seat without being jarring, and accompanies the story without giving anything away.
