A Quiet Place: Tag Eins

I'm sorry but this is pretty weak. The first two episodes are great adrenaline and nerve-wracking rides, but what worked there doesn't work here at all. The change of director is very much felt, you can also feel the change of the main characters, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy are better actors than Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn (who is a dork). Visually it's still great, the monsters are great again but the awkward atmosphere of going from silence to extreme volume is low, and maybe only one jump-scare? There's no downright memorable scene like the birth from the first film or the bear trap from the second, I was kind of hoping for a more global and epic take on that world and it's just a melodrama about two people who don't really talk just stare at each other for more than half the movie. There's no story, there's almost no dialogue, I missed the interesting rules that were dealt with last time, there's just nothing here. When the monsters aren't exactly on screen (and they really aren't very often), it's a pretty yawn-inducing borefest where somewhere towards the end I thought it might be over by now, and please, the movie is only 90 minutes long. What also annoyed me was that nobody really screams, there's no proper confrontation with the monsters. They all just run away stupidly. MEH and the fact that the cat doesn't even meow or growl once, I didn't understand why either. Weaker than average. I'm leaving the cinema after a long time feeling like it wasn't worth the money. Three stars really just to respect the franchise and that not many of these monster movies are made, but emotionally I'm definitely more on two. 5/10. (28.06.2024)

A Quiet Place was a refreshing breath of fresh air in the horror genre, Part II was a solid sequel, and I was expecting some explanations and introductions to the issue of a world steeped in silence from the third part. My expectations weren’t quite met by the creative intentions in this case. The dramatic social level could essentially work as a standalone film, as it feels incompatible in places when coupled with the alien invasion. Day One has a promising enough start with the uninvited guests, but after that the two story levels begin to coexist (not always effectively), it’s almost like watching a mashup of two films. I'm curious to see what direction they will take after Day One, if they take it at all. (27.06.2024)

I'm not a huge fan of this series and somehow trying to make it a genre revelation seems a bit ridiculous. It's like an attempt by people who have seen like four horror movies in their lifetime. The concept of "keep quiet and don't kick anything or we'll get eaten" wore off about halfway through the first film, and the second one was OK mostly because of the actors, but overall I feel like this series has overstayed its welcome since the end credits of the first one. And that's the feeling I get this time around. Day One, at least formally, doesn't really move anything forward. The scares and horror scenes are based on the same old ideas, but because we've known the ideas for so long (not that they're exactly brilliant), it's not scary at all. You just know what's going to happen in such-and-such a scene, and that after a minute of careful walking and whispering, someone's going to get pushed and the monsters are going to eat someone. But extra points won't be given out for the new stuff either. I appreciate the effort to try and plant unheralded heroes in a trite world, and the leading duo are very capable actors, but unfortunately, the combination of horror and moving melodrama doesn't really work. We don't know the heroes. We don't care about them and we don't care what happens to them. Whatever it is. Well, what happens to them is ultimately rendered so melodramatically that it comes across as ridiculous. A pointless film that adds nothing to a franchise that has already missed the moment when it could have ended with dignity. Or move on to somewhere else. Somewhere much further, because this is going nowhere. (27.06.2024)