A Quiet Place: Review

Today I went to see John Krasinski’s ‘A Quiet Place’, a claustrophobic, intense and unnerving horror/thriller starring Krasinski (The Office US) himself, Emily Blunt (Looper, Sicario) as well as child actors Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe.
Since I first heard about this film I was really excited to see it, the concept alone had me greatly intrigued and the casting combo of Krasinski and Blunt got me even more excited.

Without giving too much away, ‘A Quiet Place’ is about a family in the midst of some form of post-apocalyptic event surrounding the arrival of creatures that will attack if a single noise is made. The story focuses on our protagonists struggle as a family in this hostile and nerve wracking environment as they have to live a life near void of sounds and verbal interaction.

Let’s get one thing straight. ‘A Quiet Place’ is named what it is for a reason. From the off set there is little to no sound aside from very quiet steps, breathing and the subtle drone of the wind. Aside from what I feel is a great, eerie and very complimentary film score.

The acting from all 4 leads is strong and believable through out the entire film, with the family dynamic standing at the forefront allowing us to really care for these people. With a lack of dialogue, the cast are left to display their emotions and intentions with nothing but body language and facial expressions. I truly masterful feat.

This comes in tandem with Krasinski’s outstanding direction as well as his powerful performance. He allows every character to feel like a genuine, real person, while crafting beautifully shot scenes and incredibly well paced editing. This film was clearly Krasinski’s passion project and it shows in every aspect in which he was involved.

The screenplay and writing of this film is fantastic, despite a major lacking in spoken dialogue, there are still scenes of sign language that comes across with a great amount of both heart and desperation. The exposition is given with great subtlety, everything we find out about this family, their situation and what has happened to the world is all revealed by very clever means. This smart writing extends itself beyond the story as both the characters actions feel very grounded, for better or worse. Any bad decision made by our protagonists comes across as a mistake made out of emotional desperation as opposed to bad writing which further allows you to really stand in the shoes of this family as they silently fight for survival.

In terms of the fear factor many may be wondering about, I can say very confidently, this film is intense, suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat through out. The use of silence through out the film is used to great effect as long drawn out scenes with little to know sounds allow the audience to be drawn in to the survivalism of said silence, causing us to feel that we must remain as silent as possible too, to avoid a grizzly fate.
Before the title of the film even makes it’s way on to the screen, the stakes are set, and they are set very high as the ruthlessness of these creatures is shown in a chilling manner. These stakes are not taken lightly through out the rest of the film, every character shows with every fibre of their being that they are deeply afraid to make a single sound and will go at great lengths to avoid doing so.

‘A Quiet Place’ really got me. I was on the edge of my seat near enough the entire run time. It’s silence caused the cinema room to remain just as silent, allowing the viewing to feel very much like a special event. I really enjoyed this film and I will be giving it 87%!

Thank you for taking the time to read this review, have you seen ‘A Quiet Place’? If not, check out the trailer below! I highly recommend seeing this film. If you have seen it, what did you think about it? Let me know in the comments and we can talk about it!