A Quiet Place Day One Review: Solid Backstory on How the Silence Started
Copyright © Paramount Pictures, Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night Productions
Title: A Quiet Place: Day One
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Prequel to: A Quiet Place
Release Date: June 28, 2024
Thanks to the Quiet Place film series and the IF movie series released this year, it is safe to say that John Krasinski is an amazing director. He knows how to direct films of various genres that would slap almost all the time. Does the recent Quiet Place movie do any good without Krasinski taking the lead in creativity? To introduce, the movie that is reviewed today is A Quiet Place: Day One, the prequel to Krasinski's titular horror movie franchise! With an average budget of $67 million, the movie was an unexpected success with $259 million grossed worldwide. Just like all of the other movies in the film series, the prequel gained positive reception from critics plus audiences, albeit somewhat less from the latter. This is because of the scary New York-based production and the compelling acting. For telling a simple prequel story with enough number of jumpscares, A Quiet Place: Day One is another good time to be scared without talking about anything.
Summary
An ill woman, Sam (Lupita Nyong'o), along with many other survivors, look for a safe escape in New York City after a noise-hating alien invasion has occurred. Even from the slightest sounds possible, these aliens are easily drawn to them, in order to hunt down anyone who makes any noise.
Reasons
As this comes from a well done prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One harbors the biggest attractions of a simple story, beautiful production, and intimidating jumpscares. Unlike many other prequels, this one tells about how the aliens came to hunt down any noises on Earth and nothing else. With one other protagonist subplot added along with basic themes, the writers made the story easy to follow because of how they want the teen audience to understand the story well. Whereas the previous Quiet Place movies take place in rural New York, the prequel takes place in New York City, which allows for more creativity. New York City in this movie is well-designed just for the place to be invaded. A lot of the buildings look fit for the setting, especially the pizzeria, and this deserves a lot of credit no matter if they were real or fake. Before moving on to the other strengths, the jumpscares are enough to scare anyone. It is not too little nor is it too much, so that there is equal balance between the story and the horror. Also, the jumpscares are designed well to open up enjoyably between each moment.
Other attractions that A Quiet Place: Day One has to offer are the enthralling acting, appealing soundtrack, and straightforward pacing. Although the actors are not anyone star-studded, they still pull off their roles well, even if they are not allowed to talk most of the time. Both Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn's roles are human and believable. How they act make their characters ordinary yet also empowering throughout the survival journey. Going to the sides, the soundtrack is mostly fit for the thrilling tone of the movie. There is not a lot of vocal songs but the movie mostly has Alexis Grapsa's score which sounds intense and chill. One thing that was not expected was "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone to appear in the soundtrack out of nowhere. This fits for the ending because obviously, it is supposed to be a happy ending, except in a more mature level. Finally, just like with the other movies of its franchise, the pacing is still about the same, making sure it is not too long. Unlike most franchise movies, this one does not extend much to add as much filler as it wanted to. This is so that the audience, especially fans of the franchise, would not have to get tired or bored.
The destroyed buildings located from A Quiet Place: Day One are logical problems, a missing origin of the aliens, and the minor potential for an implied cliffhanger. There are some ticks that make the movie seem unrealistic in a way. One notorious example is that the cat, Frodo, does not make a noise throughout the entire movie. In real life, cats do make noise by meowing, and this would have been established in the movie, even if Frodo survives in the story. Another big flaw about this movie is how there is no origin on where the aliens come from. Sure, they came out as a meteor shower to arrive on Earth. However, they do not show their hometown or the like, which is extremely off-putting because this movie is supposed to be claiming the "Day One" title; the first day of the noise-hating alien apocalypse. Lastly, while the ending was simple and nice, there would have been a little bit of potential for the movie to imply how the aliens will still attack throughout time. Even if the ending allowed the aliens to attack Sam by hearing the unplugged iPod, there would have been a little more potential that they are still going to attack everyone who makes any sound. However, this is not really much of a big problem as this is more of an optional addition.
Conclusion
Built with a simple but scary story and enough good jumpscares needed, A Quiet Place: Day One makes up for another enjoyable time for someone to get on the edge of their seat without talking! In order for the audience to not get tired or bored, the story and pacing are simple but still open to its own creativity, even if the story could be fixed somewhat. All of the jumpscares were a whole lot of non-graphic fun as they were sprinkled in most of the scenes to make the story more thrilling. As a more urban side to the main Quiet Place movies, the NYC-based production, plus its soundtrack, paint the movie as a pretty yet suspenseful picture. Lastly, the actors pull off their roles well to make them human and believable, even if they are not anyone famous. Whether you are a fan of the Quiet Place franchise or a horror fan in general, this one is obviously not a bad pick, especially considering how John Krasinski is involved in writing this project!
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