“A Quiet Place Part II” (now available for home viewing) is more like episode two of a TV series than a movie sequel. Writer-director-actor John Krasinski doesn’t have anything new to say beyond the 2018 original – or if he does, he keeps his lips zipped. But “Part II” takes us farther into this world where aliens that hunt by sound have caused an apocalypse.
Simmonds stands out
As with the first one, we latch onto Millicent Simmonds’ Regan. Being deaf isn’t a help when you’re listening for the clicking of the aliens’ mandibles at a distance, but American Sign Language certainly is. It’s neat when mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and brother Marcus (Noah Jupe) use ASL in a scene without Regan.
“A Quiet Place Part II” (2021)
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: John Krasinski
Stars: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Cillian Murphy
Even more so than Part I, “Part II” is told with few words. Even when someone speaks, they whisper. It’s easy to follow along even if you don’t know ASL (partly because this is such a simple story). Sometimes the film goes silent, giving us Regan’s perspective.
If you think about it, that’s not really a trick. Stories switch POVs all the time. It’s just rare to have a deaf main character. “Only Murders in the Building” recently did this as well, playing out an episode from the perspective of a deaf character.
Simmonds is a horror star now, and she’ll also play Helen Keller in the upcoming “Helen & Teacher.” But I think she’d be great in any genre. I’d like to see her in a coming-of-age film where she’s popular and kids learn ASL to get to know her better.
Light on story and theme
In “A Quiet Place Part II,” Cillian Murphy’s Emmett has to learn to move his lips within Regan’s sight so she can read them. This is not a theme-heavy movie, but if it has one, it’s “Believe in the kids in an apocalypse.”
It’s also not story-heavy. Taking place right after the first one (and also after a fun flashback to better days), “Part II” is a typical dystopic story about searching for other survivors. This genre is so ubiquitous that if you watch too much TV or cinema, you might be surprised to look outside and find the world is still functioning (comparatively) normally.
Once runaway inflation destroys the dollar, no cinemaphile will bat an eye at bands of dockside rapists or an island commune of survivalists. The collapse of civilization will sort people into their natural groupings, I suppose.
Intensely watchable
While there’s nothing particularly surprising in “Part II,” it’s intensely watchable – with the emphasis on “intense.” I sneezed once while watching it and realized that would sign my death warrant if I was a character in the scene.
In this well-designed film, Krasinski gives us one airtight chamber in an old metalworks factory where you can make us much noise as you want. This is ideal for screaming when your bloodied leg gets swabbed with alcohol. But it’s not exactly a fun place to go into. Everywhere else, you gotta keep those lips zipped.
Whether these all-ears aliens have conquered the world or not remains to be seen in future sequels. But they have already succeeded in changing human behavior.