Time: 99 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Lupita Nyong’o as Samira “Sam”
Joseph Quinn as Eric
Alex Wolff as Reuben
Djimon Hounsou as Henri
Director: Michael Sarnoski

I liked the first two A Quiet Place movies, however I wasn’t sure about the upcoming prequel titled Day One. It seemed quite unnecessary, and based on the trailers, it looked like it would be trading out the smaller scale and tension to a full on city with large destruction. The surprisingly positive reactions to the movie had me curious however, and I’m now glad that I checked it out.

It should be noted that despite being a prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One doesn’t shed light on the alien invaders or expands the lore or world in any notable way. It instead serves as a new story focussing on two characters who are completely separate from the main family of the previous films. There is a connective element with Djimon Hounsou’s character from the second film appearing here, but that’s it. So hypothetically, one could jump straight into Day One without seeing the previous movies in the series, and they wouldn’t have difficulty getting on board with it. One of the most intriguing things I learned about the movie going in was that it came from Michael Sarnoski, the director of Pig, a quiet and meditative character study starring Nicolas Cage. Oddly enough, Day One has more in common with Pig than it does with the previous films in the series, at least tonally and thematically. It takes its time and really focuses on the human drama, even more so compared to the last two films. With it focusing on a protagonist who has cancer who is thrust into a world ending scenario, its a movie about compassion, human connection and wanting to live again. It is quite a sad and emotional movie, far more than I expected. I’m really not sure how most audiences will feel about the movie (especially if they watched the trailers), but I found it to be engaging throughout. Funnily enough, the aliens themselves are not the first things you think about when looking back on the movie. They show up at various points and they work as threats and reminders of what people have to survive. While they are certainly threatening, they aren’t the focus, and at times the set pieces involving them felt almost obligatory, especially as the movie continues on. The trailers were admittedly a little misleading, they placed heavy focus on the intense set pieces and while those moments are in the movie, they aren’t nearly as prominent as indicated. Regardless, I really liked the way that the story played out.

Lupita Nyong’o is fantastic in the lead role, doing so well at conveying her character’s fear and her journey, from the start where she has terminal cancer, to struggling to survive the alien invasion. Joseph Quinn is the other main character of the movie, it really felt like compared to Nyong’o, his character wasn’t given a whole lot of depth, but his performance really made up for it and was equally believable. Most of the movie focuses on these 2 (plus a cat) just trying to survive and they’re great together, with natural chemistry, and their connection and vulnerabilities feeling very real. There are also some good small supporting performances from Alex Wollf and Djimon Hounsou. Admittedly, it is a shame that like in his previous appearance in Part II, Hounsou is underutilized and almost felt like an extended cameo, used merely as a way to link to that movie.

Director Michael Sarnoski’s sophomore effort is great; his jump from independent film to $67 million dollar blockbuster was commendable, and that budget was put to good use. The city is the main setting and with this increase in scale, it gives the movie a completely different feel, especially with the fantastic ruined environments. The attack sequences as said earlier can feel obligatory at times, but they are nonetheless well made (especially with the initial invasion), and the visual effects of the aliens are great. The scenes of tension are done very well, especially when characters attempt to not make a single sound, lest they alert the noise sensitive aliens. The sound design and sound editing are again key to making those scenes work, and Day One certainly delivered on that. One criticism I have about the use of the score from Alexis Graspas (which could also apply to the scores of the past movie) is that when aliens are alert and are attacking, the music gets really loud, and if anything almost takes away from the sheer terror of the situation. It really could’ve eased off a little in those scenes. That said, the score is otherwise very good.

A Quiet Place: Day One is a surprisingly good prequel and meditative, intimate, and emotional character based horror thriller, strongly directed, and with great performances from Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn. I feel confident in calling it the best movie in the series so far.