A Quiet Place: Part II: Neon NZ Review

If A Quiet Place thrived on its intimacy, the sequel takes the world so richly - yet so sparsely - created by John Krasinski and expands it, without ever losing the reasons the first film worked. (Though there are arguably a few too many repeated beats from the first film scattered throughout).

Opening with an utterly barnstorming, thrill-a-moment edge-of-your-seat sequence that shows what happened on Day 1 of the alien invasion in a small American town, A Quiet Place Part II sets its stall out early on, as it continues the story of the Abbotts and their push for post-apocalypse survival.

Jumping 473 days later, the film plunges you back into the immediate aftermath of the Abbotts' fatal encounter at the farm and their sudden need for survival. Forced to go beyond their boundaries, new mother Evelyn (Blunt, terrific in the first, but sadly sidelined in a lot of the movie), son Marcus (Jupe) and daughter Regan (Simmonds, terrific throughout) must deal with their grief and also the new threats of a changed world around them - as well as the alien marauders.

But their first discovery is Emmett (Murphy, damaged, bearded and prickly), a man who's lost his family and all touches with the humanity within...

Where A Quiet Place Part II is effective is in providing a burst of edge-of-the-seat tension among a series of well-orchestrated set pieces which bristle with unease and dread. The opening bravura sequence, with its elements of Bird Box level horror and mania, turns from glee to dread in a moment, and sets the tone of what lies ahead.

In truth, much of A Quiet Place Part II feels like portions of retreads of the first, with the creatures formerly confined to the shadows now continually out in the open. With their Venom-esque rows of teeth and shattering screams, the visual effects are thrust into the spotlight, and thankfully don't disappoint with ILM really upping the game amid the soundscape of clicking and stalking. 

Behind the camera, Krasinski opts for a slow and steady hand, possibly knowing that most of what transpires is a retread of the first, albeit in different locations, but wisely understanding what made them work so well. From a train car to a marina, via a seemingly deserted and cavernous steel mill, the dread is dialled up in a series of claustrophobic in-your-face encounters that exist solely to jangle the nerves and force viewers to the edges of their seat.

And it's solidly and expertly done with Krasinski showing his skill for the required elements - and in one sequence, setting out four encounters of varying levels of tension without once ever losing anything from the ongoing cross-cutting. It helps most of the conflict comes from being invested still in the characters, despite a Covid-19 induced hiatus, and from nods to the first film's terror swerves. (Those steps and that nail figure briefly again).

Outside of the perfectly paced sequences, the film falls slightly flat as it brings to the fore the usual survivalist tropes and post-apocalyptic factions. Anyone with a hint of knowledge of shows like The Walking Dead and practically any other world-destroyed genre will find nothing but familiarity here, and a crushing sense of shallow characterisation outside of the core group and its new interloper.

Equally, the film's conclusion feels abrupt and formulaic, giving A Quiet Place Part II more a lingering feeling of a companion piece that's been expanded out by box-office necessity rather than initial narrative desire. It shows with leaps of logic and odd character choices that stand out in moments that don't quite stick the landing.

But as an in-cinema piece of spectacle, A Quiet Place Part II is a terrifically taut piece of knuckle-whitening entertainment. It uses its silence as its weapon, once again wielding terror in a slow-wielding calm of execution that delivers on the promised tension and sickening horror of a family menaced by threats from all angles.