John Krasinski came out of the gates hard with A Quiet Place. An alien Invasion film where there is no speaking because if the aliens hear you speaking or making any noise you’re dead. It was one of the most interesting sci-fi horror films I had ever seen. Then he upped his game again with the sequel, expanding on the world he created and introducing new characters. He’s not the writer or director of A Quiet Place: Day One, but it still retains the feel and tone of the two previous movies in the trilogy.  

Day One finds Sam (Lupita Nyongo) living in an assisted living home on the outskirts of New York. She’s a bit stubborn and likes to get her way. One of the administrators of the home Reuben (Alex Wolf) organizes a trip to the big city to see a marinate show. While there the unspeakable happens. An alien Invasion transpires and it’s like a war has started. People start screaming for their lives and running scared. The aliens feed on sound though in a city like New York sound is everywhere and all of the people are prey to these aliens with acute hearing. It’s a bloodbath. Sam and her emotional support animal, a cat named  Frodo, try to survive by any means necessary. 

Michael Sarnoski, Pig, once again uses sound to great effect in this third installment in the A Quiet Place Franchise. The screening I was in was in AMC Dolby and the sound was very loud. Dare I say thunderous? One sequence took place in a terrible thunderstorm. I felt like the storm was going outside the theater because it was so loud. The beginning sequence felt like bombs going off. That’s how loud and boisterous the sound was. Of course, other times you could hear a needle drop if you were listening because of how quiet it was in the theater. That dichotomy is why these films work so well for audiences.

What I didn’t expect from A Quiet Place movie was a touching, poignant, and beautiful story about how two people and a cat can coexist in a world that is literally being destroyed all around them. People are dying left and right, but these two people Eric (Joseph Quinn) from Stranger Things fame, and Nyong’o’s character find a way to work together despite their differences. He’s a white law student from England and she’s a black cancer patient on the brink of death. Quinn’s character finds it in himself to help this woman who has a big ask. A scene involving pizza, drinking whiskey, and a magic trick with playing cards is one of the most emotional scenes in any film I’ve seen all year so far.  It was so amazing.

With that being said there is one thing, and it’s a small thing but it bears talking about, and that’s the cat. I’ve been around cats my whole life. I can say that when cats are hungry they’ll let you know. When they want attention they let you know. One rule that cats have is they hate water. This film proposes that cats don’t meow, and they don’t mind water at all. As the cat in the movie gets put in or underwater twice. That’s a bit preposterous to me who has been around cats my whole life. No cat I’ve known would let that happen at all without kissing, meowing, and or clawing to get away. This is the most behaved cat I’ve ever seen. I know it’s part of the character and story, but it is a little too unbelievable for me. That’s a small quibble though. I actually liked the cat in the film.

One thing I wanted to bring up was race relations. In a country so torn up by race relations I feel Sarnoski created a story that can go a long way to help solve race relations in this country. It took a war-like scenario and an alien Invasion for a man and a black woman to find common ground. Survival from an alien apocalypse will do that I guess.  I want people to watch this movie and see how little things like bringing a journal back or getting medicine for a sick woman can go a long way to show how people can care about another person. In need or otherwise. As a famous wrestling General Manager would say “Love Someone Today” or every day for that matter.

Lupita Nyongo came on the scene straight out of college. She was studying acting at Yale. While she was at Yale she got the role that would change her life. Tat being Patsy in Twelve Years A Slave. Ironically enough that name plays a part in this film, so that’s a full circle moment for her ten years later. Nyongo has been selective in the roles she chose to play and I think that was a good decision on her part. She uses her great eyes and emotions to effect in a bunch of the roles she chooses such as US. She is just amazing in that way. She does the same here with some terrific results. She is a treasure in the acting community and I hope she keeps making for into her old age.

A Quiet Place: Day One is another fantastic film in this franchise. It has generally touching moments that had me emotionally wrecked. For a war-like alien Invasion film, it had no business being so poignant and beautiful. Sarnoski infused some genuine humanity in an alien apocalypse film. Who knew he could do that? This movie will go a long way in showing great relations between races. The friendship between these two people under these circumstances was generally amazing. Not since Harry and Tonto or Pet Semetary have film fans seen a cat like this one with amazing abilities to stay quiet and swim in the water. This movie was one of my favorites of this year so far and I can’t wait to see where the creative juices flow next in this franchise.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen