'A Quiet Place Part II' by John Krasinski Review: A film that resembles too many other films

I have lost count of the number of films that have been coming out for the past few decades which feature some sort of apocalyptic narrative in which a child is accompanied by an adult through a harsh and unforgiving landscape. There are so many films in which this trope plays out at this point that there are just too many, and each one feels identical to the other. I can barely think of which one stands out given how similar their stories and general atmosphere tends to be. At this point it feels like a tired genre, a bit exhausted and done to death. Think of The Last of Us and its narrative, and we have the entire genre summarised. I didn't expect A Quiet Place's sequel to go in this direction, and to some degree it felt like it was purely intentional to do so as it focused on its more youthful characters while going the safe route that pretty much could not fail. I'd consider this to be a film that could hold the name a 'safe sequel' in regards to its direction that doesn't entirely remove its initial themes, but does nothing to expand on what it originally set up, without straying too far from it all at the same time.

I remember the first film, and finding it quite interesting for the time. It wasn't playing off the same tropes as this one, and focused more on the struggles of an entire family that was trying to survive after an alien invasion had caused them to be reduce to total silence. A life in which the slightest noise would result in them being hunted. The disappointment here is that I don't feel that the second film was justified. The first being more than enough in its story to tell us about this world and its inhabitants. This film barely even followed up on that idea, instead trying to lure us in with more action and characters that hold no actual substance to them. Less focus on the fear of sound and the suspense that comes with having to be as quiet in every moment even when the environment doesn't allow for it. Still having some strengths here and there, but it just felt like your typical sequel bait that pulls you in and then doesn't really do anything special. People praised John Krasinski in his first title, but I feel much of the praise here isn't really warranted, instead it's a pretty lack luster attempt to make quick cash.

I don't think this is a film worthy of your time, and even though it has a runtime of 90 minutes, it never really feels like it does anything with it after the first 30. This post may feature some spoilers so read on at your own discretion.

This sequel takes place not all that long after the events of the first film, in which our main protagonist played by our director and creator, John Krasinski, is killed off at the end of the first film. The family are now broken and in constant motion in attempt to save their lives with the discovery that high frequency sounds are the weapon against the aliens which thrive on hearing anything and being lured in by sound. With this knowledge, the characters are still reduced to lurking in silence and only using the weapons they currently have when they absolutely must use them, which means close-up engagements with the aliens once they're already caught tends to be the solution. Though naturally such loud sounds like gunshots just leads to more aliens being lured into the area. The film has a pretty boring narrative which feels like it's barely touched, and the most interesting aspect of the story is actually found at the start of the film in which it explores the origin of this invasion. How the family was at a typical sports game in which something in the distance falls from the sky. Moments later, the people in the area are attacked by these alien creatures. The chaos ensues under an action-packed set of scenes that are shot incredibly well. Feeling like one long nightmare as we follow our characters around an environment in long tracking shots.

I quite liked this introduction which showed us the origins to the story, though it seemed like something that would've worked best at the start of the first title to set things up, instead here it feels more like a bit of bait to get audiences back into the cinema to watch the film because it can now be branded as something John Krasinski was actually acting in again. Though his screen presence is short-lived, and the film progresses by showing the present in which his family are now left on their own, the mother running around with two children and a baby which could break into tears at any moment and put their lives into danger. Though this element was sparingly used, and it felt like a missed opportunity to pull on the tension by using the constant danger of having a baby within such an environment. Instead the film focuses more on the children, and how one of them lands on a bear trap, rendering him completely useless for the entire film. Though the one deaf child leads a direction of action and heroism alongside an older male character which takes him under his wing for the most part. This is where that aforementioned trope enters.

The filmmaking of the film is certainly its largest strength. It looks as if they opted for the anamorphic look with the oval bokeh that is often seen in most shots, with a cinematic wider focal length in much of the shots. I quite liked how the cinematography handled the overgrown and fast-paced lifestyle in this world as the characters had to manoeuvre throughout tough areas with varying challenges. From the dry leaves of the autumn land to the dirty interiors. The lighting was pretty good in how it handled those interiors too. Though I much preferred the moments in which the characters were outside and roaming throughout the land with aspects of visual storytelling to it that gave us context into the outbreak a bit more, as we saw scratches and damage done to locations that was a clear indication of how things went down. The long shots on characters was also a good aspect of the directing which did give a more immersive look into things that made us feel a bit closer to the characters, but most of the characters outside of the main family were just so untouched that we knew that things weren't to last.

And I think that's what I disliked about the film. The lack of substance that didn't give the world and its characters depth. The scenes which felt a bit too structured and void of connection. It all felt quite mechanical at times and as if the main appeal was the first film, to which this one had nothing more to really say about it. It felt more like a short film than a feature. The idea that the brief snippets of narrative could've been condensed down into an animated short or something. Not the best execution, but it held some fun moments and technical aspects.