A Quiet Place - Review
It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a horror movie like this one; or better yet, just a film this great in general. A Quiet Place creates an entirely new way of telling a story, and a damn good one at that. I’ll try to explain why I enjoyed it so much, but the only way you’ll be able to truly understand what I mean when I say: “this is the best movie I’ve seen all year”, is if YOU GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Like…now. Or this week or whatever, (whenever you have the time really, it’s up to you), just GO SEE IT.
Alright, now that it’s gotten it’s due praise, here’s why A Quiet Place is now in my top 5 scary movies of all time…
SPOILER WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR A QUIET PLACE FOLLOW
Going into the theater, knowing John Krasinski and Emily Blunt were not only playing lead roles, but a married couple, my expectations were set pretty high. And they knocked them out of the park, blew them out of the water, or shot them out of the sky – however you want to say it, they nailed it. It takes incredible talent and mastering expression in your face to pull this movie off, and there’s a couple scenes in particular I feel deserve a shout out.
First, my new queen, Emily Blunt, plays Evelyn Abbot – I don’t think there’s an emoticon for a standing ovation, so this will just have to do:
Homegirl WENT INTO LABOR, but kept it cool long enough to signal her husband, then STEPPED ON A F**KING NAIL, and still kept her mouth shut, and even BEGAN ACTUALLY HAVING A BABY… All while staying silent enough to stay alive. Is it bad bitch or bad-bitch? Not only did her character have this incredible feat of motherhood, the entire time you can see the pain in her eyes. You can literally see her screaming, but she doesn’t make a sound, it’s just from her expressions. When was the last time you saw a movie where the actress screamed without actually screaming? Yeah, remember when I said this is an entirely new way of telling a story? GO SEE IT, and maybe you’ll believe me.
The second scene one could almost call Oscar worthy follows almost immediately after, when Lee is in the house searching for his wife. He gets to the bathroom to see blood pooled in the bathtub, and without a word, you can see his entire life leave his eyes. His whole world crumbles, he feels helpless, and alone… and it all happens within a matter of seconds. How John Krasinski pulled that off, I’ll never know. Not only as an actor, but as a director: the ability to capture a moment of pure emotion like that seems almost impossible, yet he did it - and my hat goes off to him.
There’s a lot more to this film than the acting that makes it so incredible: the story is wonderfully written, it’s a completely original kind of horror, and the silence itself creates its own character. It’s hard to imagine writing a story with these kinds of boundaries, but I guess the challenge of it all is what made the final product turn out so great. During an average scary movie, I’ll think “Ugh, you’re so dumb!”, or, “Don’t go in there!”, but not this one. This situation is simply happening to these characters, and any mistakes they make is all due to their fear of sound, or really what follows. That’s what sets it apart from other horror movies for me, the stakes are much higher. Everything is amplified, and it’s weirdly because of the silence. There’s also only a few lines of spoken dialogue in the whole thing, and I believe that’s what made the performances of not just the cast, but the silence, so great. How can silence be a character, though? I have no idea, but in this movie, silence is permanent. It’s everywhere, always, and forever. A Quiet Place is a masterpiece, go see it.
10/10 Stars
