A couple of weeks ago me and my friend decided that it would be a good idea to finally give a post apocalyptic film series 'A Quiet Place' a chance. We thought that it was time to watch these suspense / horror films and not avoid watching them anymore.
After all, even though we're not the biggest fans of the suspense film genre, now that there were already two popular entries in this series, we thought that we couldn't ignore them anymore. We had to check out these two films and see whether they were any good.
So having now seen the two 'Quiet Place' movies, I have to say that we were both rather pleasantly surprised by the quality of these films. Both of them were actually rather well made and managed to keep our attention from start to finish really well.
Film-wise, the basic premise in the 'Quiet Place' is that we have a post apocalyptic world, where alien monsters have pretty much destroyed the world and the society we know. Only a few remaining surviving members of the human race are left on this planet.
Indeed, as these ruthless extraterrestrial monsters keep hunting us humans with their special hearing ability, it's no wonder we are in deep trouble. They can hear us so well that almost every sound that humans make will make our position known to these monsters.
Not surprisingly, this 'must stay quiet' is the biggest reason why the movie is so suspenseful and that gives it so much potential. Our protagonists - in almost every situation - have to stay as quiet as possible and keep their calm, or else they're going to be killed.
Character-wise, both these movies mostly revolve around a family that has managed to evade the monsters. We have the father (John Krasinski), the mother (Emily Blunt), the deaf daughter (Millicent Simmons) and the kid (Noah Jupe), who manage to work as a team.
Story-wise, one of the best reasons that the movies work so well is without a doubt that the story is kept as simple as possible. The writers keep the story tight (almost vignette-like) and don't overreach and try to explain or solve the whole situation in one movie.
Indeed, unlike some other movies, these concentrate on what's absolutely crucial and then sticks to it. It's about our protagonists trying to figure out how to stay alive, how to evade the monsters, how to contact other people possibly alive and how to kill these monsters.
Quality-wise, I have to say that in my opinion the second 'Quiet Place' manages to be better than the first one. The second one has more intense survival & suspense moments that don't have flaws and plot holes in it that are as apparent.
Indeed, even though the first movie is by no means bad, there are some plot contrivances that weigh it down a bit. These flaws like the 'sound making toy fire truck' and in the basement 'the nail that sticks out on the stairs' are things that people have had issues with.
Still, just because the first film had some silly flaws in it, when in comes to both of these movies as a whole, there's no question that both films managed to be entertaining. There's clearly a lot of good stuff going on in here that makes these movies suspenseful and watchable.
In that sense, in the end, if you haven't managed to watch the 'Quiet Place' films yet, I think it's safe to say that you should give them a chance at some point. You should watch them and not be discouraged by the idea that these are movies that are supposedly too scary.
After all, even though there are some 'scary' moments here, that's not what these movies are about. There's more to them than just the 'jump scares' and those other things - like the 'silent' premise and keeping things tight - are the reason why the films work so well.
