A QUIET PLACE begins in quiet desperation. There’s a reassuring familiarity in the dystopia of the opening sequence…a deserted small-town America; a street with autumnal leaves in a forsaken thoroughfare. As we move inside we follow someone tipee-toeing around a raided and abandoned store.
Soundlessly choosing medicine for one of the children, coveting the far too noisy toys on the shelves and communicating in American Sign Language, the family of 5 are silenced by the threat of the creatures that have caused this holocaust. The reassurance of a traditional sci-fi/horror film is suddenly and lethally challenged before the opening credits when we meet one of the creatures. Attracted by sound, they are indiscriminate killers.
It’s an interesting premise from Director John Krasinski. More known as an actor (The Office) Krasinski has populated this scary and quiet place with a great cast. Beginning with his real-life partner Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train, The Devil Wear Prada) as Evelyn. Krasinski plays her husband, Lee, and their focus is unwavering. It’s a family story at it’s heart and the stakes are always the same… protect the children.
Noah Jupe (The Night Manager, Wonder) playing middle son Marcus and Millicent Simmons (Wonderstruck) as their deaf teenage daughter, Regan, are terrific and the inner family tension is a small but welcome narrative in a film which has enough sub plots to enrich the monster chasing and chasing monster.
The plot does have some inconsistencies that the audience takes with good grace as the film is high on tension and very engrossing. The action doesn’t flag but ratchets up without excessive speed, so we can appreciate the characters. There’s a predictability that’s mitigated by top notch performances with believability even in the occasional unrealistic moment. Despite not even raising a whisper, they avoid being monkish and stoic. So many close-ups on faces which are scared and silent is a nice change from screaming and wailing.
The middle boy is especially expressive and his teenage sister is a wonderful creation from Simmons. Truculent, searching for independence, and with a desire to step out of gender roles that the family seems to have settled into. The relationships are explored despite the lack of words, Simmons is particularly good at putting that tricky teenager tantrum time on display wordlessly. How do you discipline an unruly teenager without raising your voice … even to someone who can’t hear you? And Blunt has a sequence that is grittingly, scream swallowingly, tense.
For the first part of the film, the silence is quite eerie but it doesn’t over do the quiet. The music by Marco Beltrami ( Wolverine, I Robot), creeps in, as do well placed, tight sound effects. There have been quite a few corn field threat movies but never has the sound been so frighteningly spooky as in A QUIET PLACE. The finale is turned up to 11 with powerful performances and close encounters to satisfy horror lovers. The film currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
A QUIET PLACE is pretty busy but there are clever details to enjoy. Evelyn teaching Noah a Shakespeare sonnet without being able to speak the poetry. The cinematography luxuriates in the palatte especially in the surrounding woods and the criss cross whiteness of the soft sand trails that they walk to avoid the crunch of seasonal fallen leaves. Those autumn tones are beautifully expressed by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Far From the Madding Crowd, Girl on a Train).
The monster is a bit derivative but with a light twist and the film has an action packed but far from surprising climax which relies on the brio of the mother and daughter. The horror is pretty goreless, despite some bloodletting. The tension doesn’t rely on threatening the weakest, the threat is uniformly present.
There are enough shocks to be satisfyingly entertaining with lots of events that are gasp out loud and, for me, plenty of whisper to your friend to tell you what happened moments. I nearly saw the whole thing, rare for me, so I can wholeheartedly recommend A QUIET PLACE.
And get there early because there is a really entertaining community announcement before the show.
A QUIET PLACE, Paramount Pictures [Facebook] opens in cinemas April 5.
