A Quiet Place: Day One review.
Everybody loves a prequel! In the case of A Quiet Place: Day One…it’s actually true.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Directed by Michael Sarnoski
Screenplay by Michael Sarnoski
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Djimon Hounsou, Alex Wolff, Joseph Quinn, Thea Butler, Jennifer Woodward and Elijah Ungvary
A Quiet Place: Day One Review
2022 taught us that prequels don’t have to be bad. Prey and Pearl were two of the best movies of that year, after all. Instead of drowning themselves in fan service and ending up trapped by what we already know happens after…each crafted personal stories that delivered original thrills. More recently, The First Omen did a great job working within the confines of established lore. It did end up trapped by what we know must come next…but found an interesting work around to open the world of The Omen to future stories. A Quiet Place: Day One takes a page from the 2022 handbook. It tells an emotionally relevant story that just happens to take place on the day the world ends.
Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) is a cancer patient living out her final days in hospice care. A group trip into New York City becomes a nightmare when an alien invasion brings the world to a screeching halt. While survivors try to make a silent escape from the city…Samira just wants to get a taste of home before the end arrives.
Nyong’o is the biggest reason that I had some hopes for A Quiet Place: Day One. No stranger to genre fare (Us, Little Monsters) …she elevates every film she’s in. It’s no surprise that Day One benefits a lot from her presence. What is, perhaps, surprising is how strong of a role this prequel carves out for her. Yes…this is a movie about monsters who kill you if you make noise. Yes…it is set in the noisiest city in the world. Those are the fun parts of A Quiet Place: Day One. What’s underneath it is what makes it stand out as not just a great prequel but one of the best horror movies of the year.
This is a story about dying on one’s own terms. If the aliens never crashed in the Big Apple…that still would have been the story. We meet Samira while in hospice care. She’s depressed and surly about it. She clutches her service animal (Frodo, the smartest cat you’ll ever see) to get through moment to moment. When the group heads into the big city for a show…she agrees to go with one caveat. They have to stop for pizza. That becomes difficult when all Hell breaks loose.
Thrown into a deadly invasion…Samira retains her quest for pizza. That sounds silly on paper. It even feels that way to begin in practice. Everyone in town heads towards the south in search of boats. Samira walks north to where her happiest memories took place. The aliens here are less scary than they are obstacles in her way. There are still plenty of scenes played for horror…but Samira’s fear is less of the creatures and more about failing to go out on her own terms. After getting a taste of the life she’s going to lose either way.
She’s not alone in her journey. On top of her cat (who remains remarkably quiet and calm during some crazy events), Samira picks up another stray. Eric (Joseph Quinn), a foreigner in town for law school starts following her as she travels against the grain. He’s terrified…and would rather go with her than with the crowd. The bond they form over the course of their journey is a strong way for A Quiet Place: Day One to move the drama forward. It also allows double the chance for someone to step on a creaky board and end their mission immediately.
A Quiet Place: Day One can get surprisingly emotional…but it also remembers what people want to see in A Quiet Place movie. Monsters. Setting the story in New York City opens the door to multiple dynamic scenes the first two movies couldn’t attempt. Thousands of survivors walking down the street…knowing one noise will set off a bloodbath. A cat and mouse game with a creature in the subway. A save the cat moment surrounded by monsters.
But it all comes back to Nyong’o. One of our finest actors giving a tremendous performance in a story that allows her to deliver. This is a much deeper movie than you’d expect it to be. In some ways…it’s the most complete movie of the Quiet Place series. Samira’s journey is a moving one. Casting Nyong’o in the role ensures that it sticks the landing.
Scare Value
I don’t want to use the phrase “better than it has any right to be” about A Quiet Place: Day One…but it would probably fit. Prequels are getting better lately. That doesn’t make Day One any less of a triumph. It allows both the drama of the story and the threat of the movie to stand out. Those looking for a creature feature will find some terrific set pieces to enjoy. Those craving something deeper that will resonate more emotionally…will find even more.
4/5
A Quiet Place: Day One Link
In theaters now – Fandango
