A Quiet Place: Day One is a horror prequel that manages to maintain the suspense almost as effectively as the other two films directed by John Krasinski. Michael Sarnoski wrote and directed this particular installment which stars Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn. Other cast members include Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou.
Nyong’o plays a woman, Samira, who is suffering from terminal cancer and under hospice care. although she is still able to get around pretty well. She and some fellow patients take a trip to New York City to see a marionette show and maybe get a pizza. She is accompanied by a seemingly indestructible cat as well. This is the day that the invasion of the aliens with the super hearing begins and tears into the world. Samira makes her way through the city trying to get home and picks up a companions named Eric along the way. Of course, the cat kind steals the show at times.
The performances really spark here. Samira is an interesting character because she is somewhat resigned to her health situation and has a dry, cynical attitude that is quite understandable and compelling at times. Her somewhat mysterious past is slowly peeled away as the bond with Quinn’s character, Eric, grows during their brief time together.
In the meantime, the hulking, screeching aliens continue to feast on the other New York residents.
There are not that many surprises with the aliens since they are just single-minded and lightning fast. The suspense was well played though. The script was actually kind of interesting, and it was easy to sympathize with Samira, who has a terminal illness and an alien invasion to cope with. This film doesn’t avoid all of the typical tropes of the genre, so there are some moments that are easy to predict. I did not learn anything really new about the creatures other than there was some nest at a construction site that had some eggs scattered around. There is not much explanation as to how the creatures arrived and if there was a deeper purpose other than killing hapless humans.
In case anyone needs reminding or has yet to see the other two films, these creatures are blind but have frighteningly superb hearing. Any noise from their prey can bring a brutally swift attack upon them.
It’s a pretty solid piece of scary entertainment. Although it is doubtful we will see Samira again, it hopefully will not be too long before Nyong’o is seen in her next cinematic endeavor.
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