Review: ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ is an Emotional, Intense, Necessary Sequel

June 7, 2021

In 2018, The Office star John Krasinski shocked the horror world by releasing A Quiet Place, an incredibly intense horror-survival film that followed the Abbott family as they maneuvered through a post-apocalyptic world overrun by an insanely aggressive extraterrestrial race. The long-awaited sequel was slated to be released in the summer of 2020, but pandemic restrictions pushed the film back a year. Finally, Krasinski was able to see his sequel hit the masses with A Quiet Place Part II.

A Quiet Place Part II takes place mere moments after the events of the first film. The Abbott family, although having lost their patriarch (John Krasinski), gained the knowledge that the vicious alien creatures are fatally weak to the sound frequencies that Regan Abbott’s (Millicent Simmonds) hearing aid emits.

Before the film takes off with the new story, the audience is treated to some necessary backstory, and takes us back to the day of the invasion. The flashback gives us both insight into the Abbott family right before the attack, as well as some great scenes with the now-dead Lee (Krasinski). It shows us just how ferociously and quickly the creatures dispatch the human race, putting to rest a lot of the speculation from the first film, that humans could have had time to fight back.

As the sequel starts its story, a tonal shift is apparent right off the bat. Whereas the tone of the first film was predominantly a defensive one, being almost a siege film, Part II shifts the story completely into the offense. It reminds me a lot of how the tone shifts from A New Hope (offense) to Empire Strikes Back (defense). The Abbott family decides that their home is no longer a safe haven, and it would be safer to look for other places to set up camp. On their journey, intense circumstances cause them to unintentionally meet up with Emmett (Cillian Murphy), a family friend of the Abbotts from before the invasion. Without going into too much more detail, we’re finally able to see what else has been going on outside the boundaries of the Abbott farm in the first film.

I absolutely loved the style shift and leveling up of intensity in Part II. Don’t get me wrong, the first film was intense as hell, but now we’re taken out of the familiarity and safety of the Abbot’s farm, which was specifically set up to warn and protect the family. In the sequel, they are out in the world and the training wheels are off. Every single step is a potentially life-ending hazard. The plot focuses on a couple different stories at once, each bringing their own feelings of fear and worry for the Abbotts.

Much like the first film, there were moments that had me gritting my teeth and clenching my jaw. Both from the gore and the sheer vehement interactions for each character we’ve come to care about between the two films. The first film had a lot of close, personal emotional moments of loss and sadness, and Krasinski kept that theme going by introducing Emmett in the sequel. All of the actors were excellent again in their recurring roles, and the addition of veterans like Cillian Murphy and the Oscar-nominated Djimon Hounsou made everything just that much better. The film was such a fantastic blend of horrific and powerful emotions, brought together perfectly with long stretches of silence (I didn’t even want to eat my popcorn in fear it was too loud), and an absolutely gorgeous score from Marco Beltrami.

Like the first film, the runtime was kept under control, and ended in a similar abrupt fashion, prepping the audience for more to come. Although nothing has been officially greenlit, it’s hard for me to believe Krasinski won’t come back to finish out a trilogy, though it’s rumored that Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special) will be taking a shot at a film in the franchise as well.

Overall, I liked A Quiet Place Part II more than its predecessor, but they fit together perfectly as one. The tonality of the two films put together create a nearly flawless blend, and I cannot wait to see how they wrap up the franchise.