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A Quiet Place Part 2

Leaving aside the honking great clanger of giving birth during an alien invasion, especially when those aliens are really, really good at hearing AND want to feck da human up (youth speak), I found the first A Quiet Place to be a compact little sphincter clencher. Pandemically disrupted cinemas forced the delay of A Quiet Place Part 2 - in fact, I remember earmarking this as the next film to see just as the doors closed. Well it's here now and it covers similar ground, exactly the same physical ground with respect to the setting, down to the sand trails and the local town from the first film.

The opening is almost the best thing about AQP2, as we flash back to DAY 1 and get more beasty action than in the first one. During these scenes there's a neat trick of POV switching from John Krasinski's Lee to his daughter Regan, played by Millicent Simmonds. As Regan is deaf, the scenes from her viewpoint are completely silent, and when there are emaciated, murderous Skeksis roaming about, this is fucking terrifying. The transitions from silent to sound often come via a touch from another character, bringing some sense of audience relief as well.

As you can imagine, the jump scares are well done. You may know they're coming but they still make you spill your skittles. Around the end of the second act, three exploration situations are gradually intercut with one another and the craftsmanship here is lovely. The tension is near unbearable and the resolution in one of the three is purely belter (hint: docks). Sound design plays a big part in these films and if you buy into the story, the world, you find yourself holding your breath a little, not opening that Violet Crumble until a bit later, mirroring the parts where the characters must keep shtum. It may be a minor thing but it's a testament to A Quiet Place 2 (and films in general) that people go along with all that.

The cast are fine. Emily Blunt is always watchable and the kids (Simmonds and Noah Jupe) give tense support. Cillian Murphy joins this film and such is his prowess, that I was constantly sus of him. He had this to say about his role to Ryan Gilbey in The Guardian:

“Well, it felt like enough for me to try to give a performance. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing if the premise is the star of a movie, if it’s a good premise. If the job is to serve the concept the best you can, I’m totally down with that.”

Pretty bloody altruistic of old Tommy Shelby, but he's got a point about the premise being the star. On that, I had an inkling that this whole shitshow, with sightless, almost oblivious muthas devastating the world, is basically a metaphor for climate change. Hear me out. This is some horror mess going down but Regan in the first film and both her and her brother, Marcus in this one are the driving force behind dealing with it. Marcus in particular, has the personal growth arc in this film, from nervous boy (often being told to simply breathe) to avenging alien killer. Some adults try and fail, some adults don't even try, but it's the kids that fight to save themselves, their family and the planet. As Ween said, If You Could Save Yourself, You'd Save Us All. Maybe I'm being naïve but it's possible that Krasinski has more hope for the next generation than the current one.

A Quiet Place 2 is showing now, probably everywhere.

See also:

Murphy in his break out role in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002) and Blunt in more alien killing tomfoolery in Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

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