So A Quiet Place, the surprise survival horror film franchise that exploded onto the world in 2018, starring Emily Blunt and directed and co-written by John Krasinski, took audiences on a ride. The anticipated sequel sadly came out right before the great plague of 2020, which hurt its commercial success, yet the people still positively talked about it. Now, in 2024, we have a prequel set in the world when it all began with a story by John Krasinski and Michael Sarnoski, the director of Pig fame. A Quiet Place: Day One stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou, and a cat set in New York City, specifically Manhattan, when things go an extreme type of left I know I might not be built for. Nyong’o plays Sam, a terminally ill cancer patient who’s in hospice care. She and her service cat Frodo go into the city with other hospice patients to see a show in the city her nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff) talks her into with the promise of a slice of Pizza. While there, more military presence is seen. Then, things fall out of the sky, shattering the streets and buildings of Manhattan. Humanity is attacked by the weird blooming onion face having echolocating aliens.
So, for me, this was my first experience with A Quiet Place franchise. I never got a chance to see either film in the theater when they were released. All this is new for me, but I like starting in this world when the world does. Lupita Nyong’o is immensely captivating as Sam, with so much of the camera focused on her and her face reacting to these extreme situations. I like that the concept of the film (and I guess the others) is able to focus on the actors’ ability to act without dialogue. Tell the story with a lot of script for exposition. Lupita carries most of the film for its first half before getting joined by Quinn’s Eric, a Law Student from England who seems entirely out of sorts but also has an amazingly empathetic face. Sam’s cat, Frodo, brings them together, and once together, Eric refuses to leave her. While I’m not a fan of the Black characters helping a white character survive at the cost of their own. I feel this setup with a character that doesn’t have long to live and Eric at least helping her achieve her last wishes in this hellscape while helping him survive into the future did a good job of showing human connection and cooperation in terrible situations.
Michael Sarnoski, I feel, did an amazing job with this story and the filmmaking; the tension gets really high when the characters are in danger while also letting the audience breathe with good character moments and interactions between the two leads. I did like the look of the film by Pat Scola, the cinematographer. The gray tone over the film works with NYC being dust-covered and under invasion from these aliens. I also connected it to the focus on sound; with no bright colors, it lets you focus more on the sound and the lack thereof during their journey. Sound is also excellent as each breath, click, and pop makes you worried about the humans you see on screen. The film does look great in IMAX, as that is what it was screened at the screening I attended, with things bright and clear. The film reminded me of The Last of Us, the game and not the show, in how sneaking around and not making a sound is very core to that game’s story and world, with the tension also ramping up to 10. It made for a gratifying experience. A Quiet Place: Day One is a great theater multi-genre tentpole experience with two great lead performances that remind us of Lupita’s star power.
Score: B+
