A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Quiet Place: Day One” (2024).
“A Quiet Place: Day 1” is the third in the “Quiet Place” series and the team seriously needed to spice up the mix to stop it getting stale. And fortunately, they have.
As at the start of “A Quiet Place Part II“, we return to Day 1, but not to the sleepy town that Lee (John Krasinski) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) hailed from. No. Instead, we are pitched into the middle of New York City where, as the pre-title informs us, the average noise level on a normal day is 90 decibels.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) is on a bus trip to New York City with her ‘friend’ Reuben (Alex Wolff). But the day is going to be far from normal as chaos rains from the skies.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong horror, bloody images”.)
Talent:
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Alex Wolff, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou.
Directed by: Michael Sarnoski.
Written by: Michael Sarnoski. (Based on a story by John Krasinski & Michael Sarnoski. Based on characters created by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck).
Twitter Handle: #AQuietPlace.
Running Time: 1h 40m.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” Summary:
Positives:
- Samira’s character has an interesting twist that added surprising depth to the movie.
- Lupita Nyong’o is fantastic.
- The special effects are all terrific.
- Some of the action set pieces were splendidly tense.
- Loved the music score: there are some genuinely touching little musical interludes.
Negatives:
- The whole ‘creeping around’ bit has been done to death and this only adds a little extra dimension to that.
- What’s with the giant gooey eggs and burning bridges?
Review of “A Quiet Place: Day One”:
The ‘Samira twist’.
The character of Samira is a fascinating one. Since the twist is not spoiled by the trailer, I am NOT going to spoil it here (even though you learn it in the first 5 minutes of the film). But it adds a whole different dimension to the film’s storytelling and I loved that.
Lupita Nyong’o knocked me out.
Lupita Nyong’o gives, imho, a phenomenal performance as the diffident, almost anti-social loner. I was fully invested in her character from the first scene. I know action films like this very rarely get awards nominations for acting… but I hope the Academy at least gives it some consideration.
Another of my favourite actors is Djimon Hounsou and the brief scenes where he and Nyong’o act together are wonderful. Hounsou just didn’t get enough screen time in the film for my liking.
How do they do all this?
You have to admire the artistry of the technical crew who can apparently decimate New York City. Special effects and sound come together to great effect. There are moments when army helicopters race overhead, pursued by a veritable stampede of extraterrestrials: your whole seat is vibrating and you think “OH MY GOD!!”.
This world-building (or rather, apocalypse-building) makes some of the action set pieces very tense. One where they are in a modern skyscraper – all glass and falling aliens – was particularly effective.
Musical interludes
Despite all the adrenaline-fuelled action, the film takes some time to contemplate the predicament of Samira and her new-found friend Eric (Joseph Quinn). The screenwriters resist the urge to hatch a love story or sex scenes (thank God!), but there are moments of reverie. For example, when the pair visit the old pub where Samira’s Dad used to play piano. During these scenes there are some really lovely bits of music, the soundtrack coming from a composer new to me: Alexis Grapsas.
Questions, questions…
There were a couple of aspects of the film that confused me a lot:
- One was the appearance of some giant gooey eggs. I thought this was going to add some further background into the life-cycle of these creatures (as “Alien 2” did for the Alien franchise). But enlightenment was not forthcoming. Indeed, at one point, a bunch of aliens descend and start to rip open and eat the gooey eggs, which confused me even further. What’s going on?
- Also, why is the military destroying all the bridges onto Manhatten Island? For what possible purpose? The aliens are clearly falling out of the skies for miles around NYC… it’s not as if Manhatten is the only infected community, or indeed that it remains uninfected?
(Clarification answers on a postcard, or failing that the comments box!).
Yes, but…
For all the positives, and I really did enjoy this cinema visit, you have to wonder how many times this particular genre can be milked. I personally think this should be it. But if this one is a hit – and I think it should be – then you can bet that the producers will try to hack out at least one more variant.
Triggers
Not really a “trigger” per se but, as you will see from the trailer, Samira has a rather cute cat. I fear that obsessive cat lovers watching this film will worry themselves SICK that harm is going to come to the cat. (Humans? Nah, let ’em be munched on!). So, as a public service to this minority, I have added a spoiler section below the trailer to let you know if the cat dies or not!
Summary Thoughts on “A Quiet Place: Day One”
I wasn’t sure going in, but I ultimately enjoyed this one a lot. A good, exciting popcorn action film that had an unexpected hero and a memorable ending.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “A Quiet Place: Day One”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjx-iHGXk9Q. A couple of points to make on the trailer:
- This is “Trailer 2”. You might recall that trailer 1 rather misleadingly featured an opening scene with John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe on “Day 472”. For the avoidance of doubt, these characters do not appear at any point in this film.
- Curiously, there are a number of scenes in the trailer that do not appear in the film (or appear differently). The finger tracing down to the south of the NYC map is missing. And the old ‘puppeteer’ man turning off the generator doesn’t happen.
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Spoiler Section – for cat lovers
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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Cat lovers can relax. The cat goes through a bit of a traumatic water-dunking, but comes out the other side unscathed.
