One recent filmmaker bucked that trend – John Krasinski when it came to the A Quiet Place franchise. His creativity suddenly saw a disaster film where the characters had to be quiet for most of the time and centred around a family that certainly weren’t heroes.
Even the second film in the franchise was pretty decent but now comes the difficult third film and there are a lot of changes at hand. First of all Michael Sarnoski (Pig) steps into the director’s chair and the characters that audiences have come to know and love in the previous films are nowhere to be seen. The big question on fans’ minds was would this new film once again feature the creativity that made the last two films so successful?
The answer to that question is a resounding yes, as Sarnoski and his storylines take all the cliches of a disaster movie and throw them out the window.
The film itself is a prequel to the previous films and follows what happens when terminally ill poet Samira (Lupita Nyong’o – Black Panther) takes what is likely to be her last trip into New York with her carer Reuben (Alex Wolff – Old) and her carer cat Frodo.
However when the deadly alien invasion starts she finds her world suddenly colliding with the likes of the terrified Eric (Joseph Quinn – Stranger Things) and a father forced to make deadly decisions, Henri (Djimon Hounsou – Guardians of the Galaxy) – the latter actually being a character that appeared in the last film but under the name ‘Man On Island’.
It is through this basic plot that first sees A Quiet Place: Day One buck the disaster movie cliches. As we are so used to seeing either young people or families with so much to live for the fact that this movie has a terminally ill person in constant pain as its centrepoint raises the question why would she want to survive this – but the way Sarnoski answers that question is what gives this film such an emotional edge.
The second big change from the cliches is the character of Eric. He is certainly no muscle bound hero – in fact he is the complete opposite – a character that is so often paralysed with fear at what is happening with the invasion that he is unable to move and speak. Yet, once again his character is able to bring an emotional edge to this film that makes the audience feel like they can relate to it and have a better understanding of the characters at hand.
Despite the volume of beautifully written emotion that is captured in the film, the actual invasion itself is not underplayed – instead it is just portrayed in a more realistic way as it is pretty much entirely told through the eyes of Samira and Eric. That means at times there is confusion over what exactly is happening, but that adds to the realisation depicted throughout the film. Anybody who has seen Sarnoski’s film Pig should already know that he is brilliant at bringing that to the screen.
The natural feel to the movie is only further enhanced by the acting performances of Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, who are amazing throughout the film. They almost play out a romantic story without any romance as two characters connect in what they believe may be their last days on Earth. The power of their performances is a great reminder that even genre films like this can be made more powerful with some great characterisation for actors to work with.
Credit must also be paid to the cats who play Frodo. He is one of the most important characters of the film and again is one of the things that makes audiences have such a strong emotional connection to the story itself.
A Quiet Place: Day One far exceeds not only what we have come to expect from this franchise but is a stark reminder of how good disaster films can be in the hands of a filmmaker who is not afraid to change things up a little and give the audience more than just big explosions and special effects.
A Quiet Place: Day One is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘13’
4/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus