A Quiet Place II is a captivating film, that simultaneously enthralls its audience with an intriguing and captivating storyline all the while introducing and spotlighting a strong voice of the deaf community in Millicent Simmonds. Her performance as Reagan (the sister) is bewitching and captures and holds the audience's attention for dear life. In this film, Regan is at the forefront, coming up with clever ideas, being more independent, and fighting for her family. This film was far better than I had hoped for, and left me walking out of the theater saying “I think I liked it better than the first.”
Seeing this film was also my first time back in the theater since March of 2020. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Throughout the pandemic, I had held this concept of returning to a movie theater in such high regard, that when I arrived, and the theater was empty, it just wasn’t the same. The popcorn didn’t taste as good, and it seemed less worth it to spend five dollars on a Dasani water bottle. I still loved watching the film on the big screen, but there are a lot of portions of the movie theater experience that I didn’t realize I didn’t miss until I was back.
A Quiet Place II is the horror, sci-fi, thriller sequel to A Quiet Place. The film is directed by John Krasinski, written by John Krasinski and Scott Beck, and stars Millicent Simmonds playing Reagan (the sister), Emily Blunt playing Evelyn (the mom), John Krasinski playing Lee (the dad), Noah Jupe playing Marcus (the brother), and Cillian Murphy playing Emmett who was newly introduced in this film. The film follows the life of the Lee family, and the journey to try to survive in a world where monsters attack anything that makes a noise.
Everything about the Quiet Place films is exceptionally well done, and fantastic in every way, and the second film blew my mind. I’m a sucker for female empowerment and representation and this film is it and doesn’t overdo it making you feel inspired and intrigued all in the same moments. Millicent Simmonds, who plays Reagan (the sister) is a deaf actor playing a deaf character and she has one of the best performances I have seen in my life. Her expressions and movements are captivating and tell the entire story with very few words. To make this even more insane, Simmonds is only eighteen years old.
Simmonds performances may have been my favorite, but that does not discount the performance of Emily Blunt who never fails to be exceedingly powerful with her performance, Noah Jupe, who can convey powerful messages with his facial expressions and body language much like his counterpart Simmonds, and Cillian Murphy, who perfectly enters the story like the perfect piece in a puzzle, and only makes the films better.
When I watched the first film, I was terrified. I'm not a horror film person, I do not like scary things, but when I watched it my feelings changed. It’s an intense film, and it’s scary, but it’s also beautiful, intriguing, and powerful, which I didn’t realize a film fitting into the “horror” or “thriller” category could be, which is what makes the films so fantastic.
Seeing A Quiet Place II in the theaters was an incredible experience, the jump scares made me jump higher, but the silence was so much more powerful, and the language was so much stronger. My only issue was that about halfway through the film, I had to go to the restroom, and couldn’t just pause like I normally would, and ended up speed walking to the bathroom.
Overall A Quiet Place II was a fantastic film that has quickly risen in the ranks as one of my favorite films. For me, the second film was better than the first, but I am notoriously known for liking second films better than the first. But, I can’t stop thinking about the film, and moments of it keep playing back through my head, even after I explained the entire film to my sister. The good news is, it seems like we may have another film coming our way in 2023. When it comes to returning to the theater, it was exciting, but not quite as thrilling as I expected, but will maybe be cooler when things normalize a bit more.