A Quiet Place (2018)

The year is 2020 and over the course of three months, most of the world's population was wiped out by dangerous creatures attracted by sound. A family lives in this world of silence where any sound could mean their deaths. They've safeguarded everything from marking the silent parts of the floor to pouring sand on all paths to mute sound. The youngest son in the family was killed because of a battery powered toy, leaving the family still grieving and each member blaming themselves a year later. When the mother's due date comes close, the father tries to prepare everything to keep the baby silent and safe, but some things can't be planned for.

A Quiet Place is a tense horror film that makes the audience strive to be as quiet as the characters in the film. The last film that achieved this was Don't Breathe and it's an effective atmosphere that makes me question if I'm breathing or moving too loudly. How these creatures have changed the world is insane. The slightlest sound has to be dampened to avoid attracting their attention. The creature design is also pretty amazing and the visual effects look impressive. The true success of the film is the family. Each of them suffers silently with the guilt and grief of their loss and shut themselves off from the rest. Their day to day interactions are loving and they get along fine, but tension comes up between them during moments of crisis. John Krasinki and Emily Blunt's real life marriage infuses their fictional counterparts, Lee and Evelyn, with love and a history that's hard to mimic.

My favorite character by far is their daughter Regan. First, the family only knows sign language because of her, which gives them lifesaving silent communication that they don't have to start learning on day 1 of this creature invasion. Second, she's the best character because of her tenacity and drive to protect her family. Lee and Evelyn shelter her and force her little brother Marcus into more dangerous roles that he is clearly too afraid to fill. It definitely gave shades of sexism and ableism, especially coupled with the roles the parents chose for themselves. Plus it's cruel to both children. Marcus is forced outside where he is absolutely terrified and forced to help his father and Regan is left at home, rejected when she has a talent and drive to protect her family. While Regan is an amazing character played by Millicent Simmonds, the situations with her and the family are problematic and never really get resolved.

I had numerous other problems with the film. The foremost is the repetitive nature of the film's beats. Krasinki is self admittedly not a horror fan and it seems that he doesn't understand the format of horror film and their cycle of tension and release. So much of the film is tense without any release that it gets dull after a while. There are only so many times a creature can be in a room with one of the characters while they try to avoid detection with the sense of danger maintained. Even though the family is constantly in danger, it doesn't feel dangerous when they come out unscathed in almost identical situations time after time. The coincidences in this film are so numerous that it's ridiculous from Evelyn stepping on a nail and going into labor to the way too convenient coincidence that accompanies the end. It's completely unbelievable and took me out of the film.

A Quiet Place is obviously a successful film that portrays a sympathetic family and incredibly tense situations. However, after a while, these scenes lose their tension and things occur much too conveniently. Also, Krasinki's dislike of the genre and unwillingness to label the film as horror leaves a bad taste in my mouth considering the film's success largely due to horror fans. Because of the ending of the film, I wouldn't be particularly interested in watching the inevitable sequel. Parts of the film are very good, but the rest falls apart for me.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins