A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE
****
Directed by Michael Sarnoski.
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Schnitze, Djimon Hounso.
Horror, US, 99 minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in cinemas in the UK, 27th June by Paramount Pictures
Cinematic prequels are a hit and miss proposition it seems. Star Wars and Harry Potter fumbled the ball with uninvolving backstories and unnecessary lore, and have you ever met anyone who holds 2011’s THE THING in high regard?. But then on the other hand this summer season kicked off in grand style with the Mad Max franchise taking a side step into the backstory of FURIOSA. Thankfully this uptick in quality when it comes to historical background continues here with Michael Sarnoski inheriting directing duties from John Krasinski and taking us back to the first day of the invasion that causes humanity to retreat into silence.
The action has been relocated to New York, a city where we are informed the volume level is that of a constant scream. Amidst the urban cacophony we meet Lupita Nyong’o’s Sam, a terminally ill poet finding herself in the city on a day trip from her hospice with her support cat Frodo. Soon the pair find themselves in a battle for survival as the city comes under attack and is overrun by the vicious arachnid-like creatures who are all too eager to rip apart anything that makes any noise louder than a pin dropping. As Sam makes her own way away from the crowds of survivors shuffling slowly out of the city for her own reasons, she meets Joseph Quinn’s Eric, a shell shocked English law student who tags along not knowing what else to do.
There could have been a worry in the decision to hire Sarnoski to helm this entry, recalling the numerous times a major studio hires an acclaimed director fresh off an indie hit only to bludgeon any authorial voice they have under a heap of committee led decisions to ensure a commercial product that collects as many dollars as it can is delivered. Thankfully, however, that is not the case at all here. While a very different film from PIG, a film once widely ridiculed for its premise alone but which went onto deliver one of Nicolas Cage’s most widely acclaimed and touching performances, there are a number of themes and motifs that Sarnoski carries over here, ensuring that this is far more than just another knocked out franchise entry hashing out the same beats.
The bond/dependency between human and animal is on full display here, to often stressful effect, as Sam carries Frodo through a destroyed landscape, while the simple pleasures in life such as music and food, are shown to be essential connections to a life before that is now far beyond reach, as also shown in PIG. While the first half of the film does carry the familiar urban invasion movie beats it is hard not to beat the feeling of having seen all this before, and there is nothing here action wise that comes close to PART II’s barnstorming opening sequence. However when the film settles into its own groove exploring its tentative friendship set against extraordinary circumstances it becomes its own soulful beast and perhaps the most emotionally affecting entry yet, and managing its own way to eke out tension that will have the audience wincing as the characters, especially that damn cat as cute as he is, involuntarily increase the volume.
Surprisingly tender and open-hearted, especially for a summer genre blockbuster, Sarnoski proves to be an inspired choice in taking charge for now before Krasinski returns to directing duties for next year's PART III. Nyong’o and Quinn also prove themselves once more as excellent performers by giving the mismatched couple trope a refreshingly tender take on co-dependence without the usual odd couple cliches. While this is an armageddon we may have seen before in a number of ways, the three talents combined here make it one worth revisiting.
Iain MacLeod
