Director/writer Michael Sarnoski (Pig, 2021) had big shoes to fill when spearheading the new horror thriller, A Quiet Place: Day One. This film is the third in the series with the first two films directed and co-written by John Krasinksi. [Those films being A Quiet Place (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2020).] When I learned of this third film being released this summer, and under a different director, my curiosity simmered.
A Quiet Place: Day One is not a sequel to the previous two films but a prequel that starts on the first day the lanky, murderous aliens crash onto Earth and hunt humans using their heightened sense of sound. This prequel has a totally new cast of characters who learn to navigate their survival by living silently while walking a dangerous journey. The terrorizing action sequences don't feel as stale or predictable as a prequel or sequel might feel in a film like this, because these action sequences are all set in the urban density of New York City instead of the rural, small-town settings of the two previous films. Watching the two main characters move through the lobby of a glass skyscraper and a flooded subway tunnel are exciting, edge-of-your-seat parts of this film.
The two previous films act as emotionally charged metaphors of parenthood and the anxieties of keeping your children safe in an increasingly volatile world. But this new prequel feels fresh by shifting its thematic direction to be a metaphor of the coronavirus quarantine and the fear, silence, and isolation that came with it (especially for people who lived in big cities at that time).
The main star, Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, 2022), gives a compelling portrait of grief and resilience who struggles to push through more than just aliens to stay alive. A Quiet Place: Day One works successfully since it isn't just about the science-fiction violence with the aliens prowling and attacking (although there is plenty of that on a larger scale). There's also time given to the characters' feelings and backgrounds, which takes viewers through the well-paced peaks and valleys of noisy intensity and hushed contemplation.
This blending of such peaks and valleys is a testament to the director's careful hand, especially since he already showed audiences the wonderful blending of naturalism and film noir in the 2021 mystery, Pig starring Nicholas Cage. (If you haven't seen Pig please put it on your list.)
The concluding monologue leans a bit toward the maudlin, and the song choice at the ending goes directly to cheesy and juvenile. But the rest of this film had me totally invested to see what happens next. If this prequel was all about the action, destruction, and dead bodies, I would have been much less invested. It's rated PG-13 and is well under two hours, so it's a very accessible option for movie watchers to choose this summer.
