In an era where comic book movies and sequels dominate the roaster at the box office, one would think that originality and creativity are becoming harder to come by as Hollywood is leaning more towards playing it safe with superhero genre based films, as well as reboots rather than experiment with smaller scale films that bring something new to the table. That's what makes the surprise box office and critical success of John Kransinski's
A Quiet Place so significant, it's a film that's a pure exercise in being both imaginative and creative while drawing inspiration from the post-apocalyptic genre that it thrives in. In a year where the most dominating movies at the box office happen to mostly be comic book films and live-action remakes of Disney films, it's nice to see a smaller budget film that's ambitious and totally confident in it's storytelling abilities breakout and become a success of its own both commercially as well as exceeding expectations in terms of how good it can be.
A Quiet Place happened to be one of 2018's breakthrough hits as well as being one of the best films released that year when all was said and done. Easily the most successful horror film since both recent chapters of
Stephen King's IT, A Quiet Place is a horror flick that's not only entertaining to watch, but surprises on many levels with how well done and crafted it is. It's nice to see a horror film come around that possesses brains and imagination, while showing an actors true talent both as the star of the film as well as being the director and co-scriptwriter. With
A Quiet Place, John Krasinski hits a home run as he stretches his legs in regards to expanding on his talents both on and off the camera.
The story for
A Quiet Place takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a family (Played by John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.
A Quiet Place is a horror film that's exciting from start to finish while moving at a brisk pace, allowing the audience to be drawn into the films nightmarish world while becoming emotionally invested in it's characters.
A Quiet Place is a combination of films such as
10 Cloverfield Lane mixed with a touch of
Signs as well as
The Road with all three influences morphing into it's own story which deserves major points for its efforts regarding creativity, imagination, brilliance, cleverness, and ultimately managing to be surprising to the audience with it's twist and turns. The concept of a creature with extra special hearing searching for people while forcing them to use sigh language to communicate is both an original and genius concept, that actually manages to bring something new to the horror genre. While it can be argued that the post-apocalyptic aspect of the story is a tad familiar to audiences as it's been done before with numerous other movies,
A Quiet Place takes an already familiar setting yet delivers an engaging twist to the genre while allowing it's cast and filmmakers to rise to the occasion with their creative skills and believable performances. John Krasinski shows audiences that there is much more to him than just a comedic actor and can actually craft a striking horror film, that makes the audience think while placing them in the scenario presented in the story.
As far as performances go, John Krasinski is terrific here as he shows a great deal of emotional depth to his role as a father both dealing with grief while trying to protect his family from the outside forces pursuing them. Emily Blunt is fantastic in the role of the wife and mother also dealing with grief and struggling to keep her family together while juggling her pregnancy. The young child actors played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, deliver strong performances with them bringing believability to their roles along with making you care about their safety during scenes where they come into contact with the creature. The films opening sequence beautifully sets up the tone for the rest of the film with it establishing the post-apocalyptic nature of the story, as well as the silent family sticking together while being forced to communicate through sigh language with the end of that sequence presenting a shocking revelation, that gains a firm grip of the audiences attention by the time the main title appears.
In terms of the films directing and writing, John Kransinski directs the film with an extreme and impressive amount of confidence in regards to telling the story. He writes the film beautifully in a way where not too much information is given about the backstory of the family nor what's happening. Rather he gives the audience just enough information through news clippings and selected dialogue to make everything clear, while forcing the audience to never take their eyes off the screen when the actors communicate through sigh language. Such a move would normally prove to be a risky one by today's Hollywood's standards, but here it's presented in a way that's essential to the storyline, while being done exceptionally well showcasing brilliance on the filmmakers end as well as their firm grip on the story. The films cinematography and art-set decoration are both perfect and effective enough to convince the audience that the nightmarish world their seeing has been overrun by monsters with enhanced hearing, making the scenario both intense, frightening, and ultimately tiresome to watch. The best thing that can be said about this film outside of it's stellar performances and solid production values, is the level of brains and intelligence that shockingly as well as admirably went into telling this story. What could've easily ended up being another generic horror film or a been there and done that post-apocalyptic tale, turns out to be a pleasant surprise that shows the horror genre still has some tricks up it's sleeve, while being inspirational to other filmmakers in showing that creativity is not fully absent just yet.
In an era where most breakthrough films or blockbusters nowadays are mostly sequels, comic book movies, franchise-oriented films, remakes, or reboots, it's nice to see a film with a reasonably creative concept with a healthy dose of originality take the center stage in showing that there is still room for smaller stories, that can have a significant impact on it's audience long after the credits roll. Despite the movie being only 90 minutes long, the film does a very good job of pulling the audience into its world, and placing them on the journey the family endures, making them become invested with the characters while generating some solid scares and suspense. The creatures intelligent feature is a clever twist with the family being forced into being silent, proving to be an ingenius twist that's done exceptionally well.
A Quiet Place is a horror flick that's beautifully written, masterfully directed, and acted in a way that makes it feel artfully done. Whereas most horror movies in today's generation rely on jump scares and gore,
A Quiet Place shows that one doesn't need those elements to make a movie scary and sometimes the silence of the moment can genuinely be just as creepy or more. The film is a triumph in the sense that it successfully manages to make the audience care about the characters, while making the story both tense and exciting despite the lack of dialogue. For horror fans and audiences in general, it's the films originality and level of thoughtfulness that went into it's story, ultimately making it a unique yet special experience for them. Hopefully the talent that John Kransinski brings to the table with this film both infront and behind the camera, will encourage and inspire other actors and filmmakers audiences would least expect to test and discover their own potential.
Final Verdict: For horror fans as well as those looking for fairly original and creative storytelling,
A Quiet Place is a must see.
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