The first Quiet Place came out of nowhere: an original blockbuster(!) helmed by Jim from The Office that delivered both thrills and heart, and managed to set up a sequel relatively organically. And though we've had to wait a while, it's finally arrived, so let's get into it. Before we begin, this is a spoiler-free zone, so don't worry about having any of the monster-fleeing goodness ruined for you here. Now, shall we?
Opening with a flashback, AQP2 threatens its audience with an unspeakable horror: over-explanation. Thankfully, it's just a tone setter, providing some context to a story that begins almost where the first left off. It doesn't really serve the plot but it does give us the chance to reacquaint with these characters, the perfect reintroduction to ensure that our empathy with them hasn't waned in three years. From there, the plot splits into a search for help and a fight for survival, and it's to the film's huge benefit that it keeps things fairly simple. There's not much to either storyline, all the better for the thrills to resonate and hoo boy do they ever. Now that the "creatures that hunt by sound" premise has been broken in, the film is able to really hone in on the relentless, electric shocks, and right from the start, it manages to find a really confident flow.
Because AQP2 hits such a confident rhythm early on, it's able to place so much more faith in the audience and avoid burdening them with an abundance of plot, which leaves more room for the shocks. From quick darts of terror to more sustained releases of tension, Krasinski is incredibly adept at juggling different but consistently effective methods of delivering thrills, and because he's unleashing them on a cast of characters that are largely known to the audience, he's able to ensure that the stakes are always felt. The plot takes a slight backseat but the film places a clear goal for one set of characters, before having fun exploring all the ways it can keep that just out of reach for them. As for the other main storyline, it largely functions as a way to keep the adrenaline flowing, but it's engaging enough, and gives us more time to admire the beautifully nasty creature designs, which is no bad thing.
A lot of what this film does well (simple but electric tension, genuine affection for its characters, no-frills creature attacks) was also present in its predecessor, but what's interesting is what this second installment adds. For one, it gives fairly interesting insight into what the rest of mankind has been up to. No spoilers, but one dockside dalliance gives weight to the old speculative fiction metric that the need to survive blurs the line between man and monster.
And as long as we're talking about newcomers, there's also Cillian Murphy's Emmett. Much more than a mere Krasinski stand-in, he's the family's introduction to the world outside the farm, something that becomes all the more thrilling when he finds himself completely out of his depth. There's a small moment of sound design that signals his role in the story, where the film mirrors a moment between Emmett and Regan with an early gesture she shares with her father, and brilliant as it is, it sort of exists to be subverted as Regan proves herself to be more than capable of filling the role of protector. Millicent Simmonds again delivers the performance that defines the film, seamlessly becoming a figure of hope and cementing her status as an iconic figure in modern horror. She's also just a great protagonist, effortlessly guiding the audience through a narrative that's too taut for comfort.
And that's one of the film's only real issues. The tension is maximised and Krasinski chooses action over horror, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it does mean that the film can forget to let its plot sit with the audience and place all of its focus on getting to the next setpiece. This is something that the first film did while also giving itself room to breath, and although Part II plays as an effective rollercoaster of a film, and does everything it needs to do, it moves a little too quickly and ends a mite too suddenly to really deliver any sort of cohesive point to the story.
But as an exercise in stress and an excuse to check in on the most unfortunate family in the post-apocalypse, A Quiet Place: Part II more than delivers. It's got a habit of investing too heavily in thrills but after a year out of the cinema, that's hardly a bad thing. It's light on plot but doubles down on what made the first such a triumph, and in the process manages to provide a punchy, breathless 97 minutes. It's not quite as elegant or as impactful as the first but it does tap into a rush of pure adrenaline and twist that into a pretty engaging feature length chase. Does it have the legs to keep this franchise going? Maybe not, but in the here and now, it's a decent way to return to cinemas.
★ ★ ★ ★
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