A Quiet Place Part II – A Solid Yet Familiar Sequel

2018’s A Quiet Place went under the radar for most and turned a big reward for its endeavor; garnishing critical praise for its suspense, story, sound editing / mixing, and focus characters and raking in over $340 million at the box office against its modest production budget. Naturally, a sequel project was greenlit and was scheduled to come out in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the next entry was delayed until roughly a year later. Now, A Quiet Place Part II is finally here and it certainly delivers as a suspenseful yet slightly familiar sequel

Picking up immediately after the events of the first movie, A Quiet Place Part II sees the remaining members of the Abbott family, including Evelyn (Blunt), Regan (Simmonds), and Marcus (Jupe) prepare to leave their destroyed farm; seeking shelter nearby from the sound sensitive creatures that stalk the lands. An incident with one of the creatures leading to an injured Marcus attracted the attention of Emmett (Murphy), a former friend who lost everything to the invaders, becoming a fragmented and distraught individual. Understanding a coded radio signal and with knowledge of weaponizing sound to weaken the creatures, Regan decides to look for refuge on an island, heading into the wild on her own. While Evelyn begs for Emmett’s help in retrieving her daughter, the Abbott matriarch heads out into a dangerous world to find medical supplies for her son and her newborn baby.

On the whole, A Quiet Place Part II retains much of what made the original film work so well was the continuity of Krasinski returning as writer/director. Krasinski keeps the focus on the Abbott family while also expanding the narrative. Much like the first film, this sequel is also short, clocking in around 97 minutes, and never feels bloated. Additionally, the thrills and suspenseful moments are still there as just like the original film, the sound design is once again plays a major part this time around. Meanwhile, composer Marco Beltrami delivers another solid score. One of the biggest issues with the film was its derivative nature. Though rehashing a lot of the things the original film did so well isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it makes the film more on the predictable side. In other words, the magic of experiencing the original A Quiet Place for the first time is no longer there.

Much like the first film, the cast of is one of the film’s strong points of A Quiet Place Part II. While Blunt and Krasinski were the main focus of the first film, the sequel’s main focus shifts to Simmonds’ Regan. Following a breakthrough performance in the original, Simmonds was once again superb as Regan with the character becoming more and more like her father. Blunt is still great here as Evelyn though she takes more of a backseat in this film. That being said, she still had her fair share of outstanding moments. Jupe also holds his own as Marcus. New addition Murphy was certainly a welcome one. Emmett may not be as fully fleshed out as the Abbott family yet Murphy still turns the character into an endearing one; playing the fragmented man with a sense of mystery and determination.

In the end, A Quiet Place Part II is a successful sequel though one that does fall into some familiar territory and may not quite surpass its predecessor. Nevertheless, Krasinski succeeds at delivering a suspenseful follow-up. In an age of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the film is nonetheless a solid return for blockbusters to cinema movie theaters everywhere.

still courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Jason