A Quiet Place Review
Last Tuesday, before I left for my big trip. I decided to go see a movie. Since I had already seen Infinity War and was too disappointed to see it again and also Solo wasn't out yet, my choice was automatically the Jim Halpert directed (oops, John Krasinski. My bad.) sci-fi thriller, A Quiet Place. This will easily be the longest review since my rant about Justice League (which you can also find on this blog). Like seriously, I have so much to talk about at a critical standpoint that this is less of a review and more like an essay.
Since this is exactly the type of movie that's better with zero spoilers, I will do my best to not spoil it. However, I might accidentally do it, so I apologize ahead of time just in case.
First of all, let me clear a common misconception about this movie: it is not a horror movie. Not even remotely. If you have seen Stranger Things, the Cloverfield movies, or other stuff with aliens like Super 8 or Edge of Tomorrow (which also has Emily Blunt), you know what to expect. I love sci-fi thrillers. It's probably my favorite genre of movies. However, I can't stand horror movies. So I specifically made sure this was a type of movie that I would like before I saw it. I will say that I jumped quite a bit watching it, but I will talk about why that happened later. And in watching the trailers for this flick, I noticed this was very similar in style to the Cloverfield franchise and less similar to most horror movies that come out. So if any of y'all don't want to see this simply because it looks like a horror movie, I strongly recommend you reevaluate this movie, because I think you will miss out on watching one of the most original movies to come out in years.
With that being said, let me tell you what I thought of this movie. I'm gonna just say it right now: A Quiet Place is hands down the best movie of 2018 and will probably remain that way. Nothing about this movie didn't work for me. Every shot is like a painting, the score is great and the cast members all give their best performances yet (I never thought Krasinski could ever play a character as well as he played Jim Halpert, but I was clearly wrong). The length is absolutely perfect for a film of this genre. And also, I can't wait to see what else Krasinski has in store for his directing career, because in this movie, he has proved himself to be a very competent director.
I also want to make a very bizarre argument about this film. If there is anything that people will disagree with me about in this review, this is most likely what it would be: I think this is a family-friendly film. There, I said it. My reasoning behind this is that there is literally no cussing or sexual content of any kind in the movie. There is a bit of blood, but it's not gratuitous. That and the intensity are what give it a PG-13 rating. Now by no means am I saying toddlers should see this movie. Not at all. While I didn't think it was scary, much younger audiences probably would. But in all honesty, should kids that age be seeing any PG-13 rated movies? I wasn't able to really start watching them until I was ten and even then, the ones I could see were limited. But the fact that many animated movies with PG ratings that are made for kids have worse language and sexual content is enough for me to say that this is more appropriate for kids than most of the garbage that is passed as "family-friendly". I'd honestly rather let kids watch A Quiet Place over something overtly offensive and crude as The Angry Birds Movie or braindead and cynical as The Emoji Movie. I'm not making assumptions about those two movies; I've seen them from beginning to end. A Quiet Place is not only a very intelligent movie, but it's also a clean one. It's truly refreshing considering that most PG-13 movies are not like that. But enough about that stuff. Let's talk about how this movie manages to be one of the most tense and emotional movies to be released in recent memory.
I also want to make a very bizarre argument about this film. If there is anything that people will disagree with me about in this review, this is most likely what it would be: I think this is a family-friendly film. There, I said it. My reasoning behind this is that there is literally no cussing or sexual content of any kind in the movie. There is a bit of blood, but it's not gratuitous. That and the intensity are what give it a PG-13 rating. Now by no means am I saying toddlers should see this movie. Not at all. While I didn't think it was scary, much younger audiences probably would. But in all honesty, should kids that age be seeing any PG-13 rated movies? I wasn't able to really start watching them until I was ten and even then, the ones I could see were limited. But the fact that many animated movies with PG ratings that are made for kids have worse language and sexual content is enough for me to say that this is more appropriate for kids than most of the garbage that is passed as "family-friendly". I'd honestly rather let kids watch A Quiet Place over something overtly offensive and crude as The Angry Birds Movie or braindead and cynical as The Emoji Movie. I'm not making assumptions about those two movies; I've seen them from beginning to end. A Quiet Place is not only a very intelligent movie, but it's also a clean one. It's truly refreshing considering that most PG-13 movies are not like that. But enough about that stuff. Let's talk about how this movie manages to be one of the most tense and emotional movies to be released in recent memory.
In case you didn't realize, there is minimal dialogue in the movie. Or sounds for that matter. That is because the plot revolves around some invasion with blind aliens that have enhanced hearing and speed. So if any significant sound is made, the person who made the sound is almost always guranteed to be dead. No question about it. What sets A Quiet Place apart from many movies in this genre (which also something I really like about one of my other favorite sci-fi thrillers, 10 Cloverfield Lane) is that the protagonists aren't idiots. In fact, they clearly know how to survive well. However, despite all this preparation, things still naturally go wrong. Things get knocked over, footsteps can make sound, animals can make sound, and also, kids can make sound. Generally, the kids do cause the problems in the movie, but they're just kids. The fact that the movie acknowledges that kids are learning and mess up ALOT shows a very human side of this movie. In fact, some of the mistakes these kids make in the movie are rooted in good intention, like a particular aspect of the first scene. I kinda have to spoil the very beginning a little bit in describing this, but if you've seen the trailer, it's pretty easy to assume that this is going to happen. At the beginning of the film, the family's four year-old son has a toy space-shuttle that makes sound taken away from him by Krasinki for obvious reasons. However, out of kindness, his deaf sister takes the batteries out and puts the shuttle in his backpack. Little did she know he grabbed the batteries on the way out of the store. And he turned it on in the woods. Yeah, I think you can imagine what happens next.
In my personal opinion, I think the whole movie is a metaphor representing the struggles of parenthood. Parents are supposed to protect their kids from dangers set before them, so that they can grow up and flourish later in life. In the film, real-life couple Krasinski and Blunt have a goal of doing exactly that. Except they are protecting their kids from blind aliens with super-hearing. And in the very beginning, they fail and lose a kid, showing that parenting can be the hardest job ever. The family is affected with grief of this loss throughout the length of this movie. Krasinski wishes he could've run faster and saved his kid from the beast, the daughter blames herself for her brother's death, and Blunt has yet another baby coming and is worried if she will fail to protect her newborn too. This emotional weight is yet another thing that sets it apart from most movies of this genre. The story is about the love of family and the goal of survival is rooted in love. The characters are not trying to protect themselves: they are trying to protect each other. Some sci-fi thrillers I've seen have good messages about family. It is a big plot point of Super 8 and even moreso Stranger Things, but it's not the main theme of either of those. In A Quiet Place, family is the main subject of the story and it handles this subject better than most dramas I've seen. In fact, I don't think it's crazy to call this film a sci-fi thriller drama. The emotional weight of this movie was so powerful that I nearly cried at multiple points of the film. And eventually, one particular scene made me cry for real and I'm not ashamed to admit it. When you see this movie (notice I said when. 😜), you will likely lose it too when you get to this scene.
The emotions I felt while watching the movie didn't even make me forget at times that this was a thriller. Because WOW. It is one of the most intense movies I've ever seen. And it wasn't the nausiating type of intensity that was in Infinity War. No, for me, it was akin to the intensity of my all-time favorite movie, Dunkirk. Basically, the movie isn't intense in a way that makes me want to punch the screen (Infinity War 😡). Rather, it contains the type of intensity that makes me have a good time and want to clap at the end of the movie (Dunkirk 😄..... or any Christopher Nolan movie for that matter). And like I said earlier, IT IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE. The Cloverfield movies are closer to being horror movies than this is, because those have some scenes placed for pure shock value. And even then, those aren't horror movies! I mentioned that I jumped a few times while watching the movie, but it wasn't because of jumpscares. There are no explicit jumpscares in the movie. It was simply because any sound, any sound at all that is made in the movie brought my heart rate from resting to a maximum of 129 BPM! The silence is so unbelievably effective! And for a while, I thought the intensity would be spread throughout a few short scenes. I was so wrong! Once you get to the halfway point, the suspense doesn't relent until the credits. It only escalates! I still think Dunkirk is the most intense movie ever made, because it's literally intense from the first scene to the credits. However, in my book, A Quiet Place gets a close second.
In conclusion, I strongly recommend you try to watch this movie. Watch it in theaters if you can. Skip Infinity War, see this (okay, I went a little too far on that one, you should see Infinity War). In all honesty, in my ranking of favorite movies, I think I'd put this as number 3 or 4 (number 3 would be The Martian, number 2 would be O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and number 1 would definitely be Dunkirk).
Thank you so much for reading my first full length review ever, and if you have any questions about the film, disagree with an argument I made, or simply have additional thoughts you'd like to add, leave it in the comment section. Have a great day!
In my personal opinion, I think the whole movie is a metaphor representing the struggles of parenthood. Parents are supposed to protect their kids from dangers set before them, so that they can grow up and flourish later in life. In the film, real-life couple Krasinski and Blunt have a goal of doing exactly that. Except they are protecting their kids from blind aliens with super-hearing. And in the very beginning, they fail and lose a kid, showing that parenting can be the hardest job ever. The family is affected with grief of this loss throughout the length of this movie. Krasinski wishes he could've run faster and saved his kid from the beast, the daughter blames herself for her brother's death, and Blunt has yet another baby coming and is worried if she will fail to protect her newborn too. This emotional weight is yet another thing that sets it apart from most movies of this genre. The story is about the love of family and the goal of survival is rooted in love. The characters are not trying to protect themselves: they are trying to protect each other. Some sci-fi thrillers I've seen have good messages about family. It is a big plot point of Super 8 and even moreso Stranger Things, but it's not the main theme of either of those. In A Quiet Place, family is the main subject of the story and it handles this subject better than most dramas I've seen. In fact, I don't think it's crazy to call this film a sci-fi thriller drama. The emotional weight of this movie was so powerful that I nearly cried at multiple points of the film. And eventually, one particular scene made me cry for real and I'm not ashamed to admit it. When you see this movie (notice I said when. 😜), you will likely lose it too when you get to this scene.
The emotions I felt while watching the movie didn't even make me forget at times that this was a thriller. Because WOW. It is one of the most intense movies I've ever seen. And it wasn't the nausiating type of intensity that was in Infinity War. No, for me, it was akin to the intensity of my all-time favorite movie, Dunkirk. Basically, the movie isn't intense in a way that makes me want to punch the screen (Infinity War 😡). Rather, it contains the type of intensity that makes me have a good time and want to clap at the end of the movie (Dunkirk 😄..... or any Christopher Nolan movie for that matter). And like I said earlier, IT IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE. The Cloverfield movies are closer to being horror movies than this is, because those have some scenes placed for pure shock value. And even then, those aren't horror movies! I mentioned that I jumped a few times while watching the movie, but it wasn't because of jumpscares. There are no explicit jumpscares in the movie. It was simply because any sound, any sound at all that is made in the movie brought my heart rate from resting to a maximum of 129 BPM! The silence is so unbelievably effective! And for a while, I thought the intensity would be spread throughout a few short scenes. I was so wrong! Once you get to the halfway point, the suspense doesn't relent until the credits. It only escalates! I still think Dunkirk is the most intense movie ever made, because it's literally intense from the first scene to the credits. However, in my book, A Quiet Place gets a close second.
In conclusion, I strongly recommend you try to watch this movie. Watch it in theaters if you can. Skip Infinity War, see this (okay, I went a little too far on that one, you should see Infinity War). In all honesty, in my ranking of favorite movies, I think I'd put this as number 3 or 4 (number 3 would be The Martian, number 2 would be O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and number 1 would definitely be Dunkirk).
Thank you so much for reading my first full length review ever, and if you have any questions about the film, disagree with an argument I made, or simply have additional thoughts you'd like to add, leave it in the comment section. Have a great day!
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