A Quiet Place Review

Shhh, don't make a sound! Or at least, that is how the characters in "A Quiet Place" must live their lives. With creatures that hunt by only sound, we follow a small family live their lives. Talk about a "high concept" kinda film! It doesn't reach the heights of "Jaws" or "Alien," in terms of simple monster movies, but it is a decent diversion on a slow day.

Director, writer and star John Krasinski plays Lee, father of three- wait no two- no no three (it makes sense once you watch it), and his real-life wife Emily Blunt portrays Evelyn, though good luck learning anyone's names- there is barely any dialogue in its ninety five minute long running time! It is a bold move, leaving any conversations to be either sign language or simply gestures, which yes, means I had to look up their names on the internet for this review.

They don't do anything particularly exciting either. They gather food, wash laundry, you know, day-to-day stuff. But man, they just can't catch a break! It's like every ten minutes someone drops something and bam! Monster attack! You'd think they'd line their dwelling with wall-to-wall memory foam.

They have, however, lined the ground with sand, on wooden planks that don't squeak, for example. How they figured that out is beyond me, as they'd have to step on the hardwood floor and make noise to section off which ones do. You know, the calling card of the monsters. But there again I go, bringing logic to a monster movie.

The monsters themselves are your usual post-"The Descent" creatures, with slimy human-like things with twitchy movements and piercing roars. It's a shame too, as the few new things they introduce later in the film are novel and grotesque, it's too late. A creature feature, especially one that seldom shows the beast, should be hiding something new, exciting. Remember the time you finally saw the Xenomorph in the original "Alien" movie? How disgusted you were, how terrified? That never happens in "A Quiet Place."

Somehow this got released in theaters, there's a low-budget feel here, particularly the effects and acting. The pacing feels just a tad lethargic as well, sure, the many jump scares did make me spill my metaphorical popcorn, but there's something off the entire time. The whole thing has a first-draft kinda quality to it, like just a few million dollars more could have made this a future classic. As it is though, it's a small screen treat displayed on the big screen.