A Quiet Place: Day One Review

Well, the results are finally in! The third installment in the Quiet Place Franchise performed... just OK. After the success of the first two films, it was reasonable to be enthusiastic. With star power in Lupita Nyong'o as the lead, and John Krasinski and Michael Sarnoski writing and producing, you'd expect great things. The end product was a movie that rushes to tell its story. Whether due to budget constraints or not, it's frustrating to see play out.

I was fully anticipating a wild ride with tense, thrilling moments. While there was some of that, it never felt like the stakes were high enough. The best possible way to increase the stakes is to give us time to understand our characters and place us in a setting that feels real. Once the invasion takes place everything is crammed in a matter of five minutes with buildings collapsing, and bridges being shot down. Sadly, these moments of destruction don't strike home. I don't know if what was because of the lack of depth amongst the cast or within the story itself, but it just didn't do it for me.

Alex Wolff is great in a few scenes as Reuben but gets killed off immediately. His death didn't matter as I barely got to know his character. This deficiency of fleshing out characters was the case with Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn) too. I'm sorry but Eric is just a cornball, and I couldn't get on board with the guy. I mean who in God's name is going to keep their tie on during the apocalypse? All Eric does is follow Sam around, refusing to leave her alone and being a major pain in the ass. Hell, I enjoyed the cat, Frodo, more than these two. Maybe a Frodo centric movie would have been more enjoyable.

Anyways, the new pair makes their way through the city to escape by boat. The aliens are allergic to water, so it's their best bet for survival. Really? Signs already did this. It was a lame weakness then and it's a lame weakness now. During the trek we receive a few fairly tender moments with Sam and Eric after they find and eat possibly the last pizza on Earth. These few scenes were quickly ruined with an extremely forgettable climax. Eric being the lousy character he is agrees to let Sam distract the monsters to allow is escape to the boat. Oh, and he took Sam's cat. I understand Sam was battling with cancer but c'mon, you don't just leave her for dead like that.

Maybe I'm being too harsh here, but the film is very safe with no shocking twists or turns. It's possible this series has already lost its allure. Aside from a strong performance from Lupita Nyong'o and her cat, A Quiet Place: Day One is your standard catastrophe movie that does not take the subgenre in any new directions. What were your thoughts on the third installment?

6.4 / 10