A QUIET PLACE PART II (2021) WORTHY SEQUEL. MOVIE REVIEW

Fine sequel

There is an old saying of Spanish origin that declares: “Nunca segundas partes fueron buenas” – «Never second parts were good.» And this, in the cinema, is generally true. But fortunately, there are exceptions. And one of these rare instances is A Quiet Place II, where we can continue with the vicissitudes of the Abbott family, written and directed again by John Krasinski.

Origins and new adventures.

After a flashback that shows us the first day of the crisis, we return to the survivors of the Abbott family immediately after the events of the first part. Considering that their shelter was no longer safe enough, the Abbotts decide to go where in the distance a fire pyre is visible, looking for other survivors and waiting for safety based on the numbers.

After some adventures to get there, they find who owned the fire is an old friend of the family named Emmett. He receives them reluctantly and does not want them to stay with him. But as the Abbotts rest from their hustle and bustle and Marcus recovers from his injuries, Regan locates a radio signal. Convinced that this radio transmission is a positive signal from other survivors, she decides to go and find the origin by herself. This situation will divide the protagonists into two groups, and we will follow both groups in dangerous situations in a world infested with deadly beings highly sensitized to noise.

Krasinski’s maturity

Krasinski is more experienced in his direction, being able to show beautiful postcards of nature and at the same time achieve excellent scenes full of suspense and tension. Decisively closing these suspenseful scenes with well-achieved and earned moments of action. The initial flashback scene is exciting, where we know a little more about the origin of the creatures.

When the story begins to follow these two narratives in unison is the moment when we can recognize Krasinski’s maturity as a director. Helped by an excellent editing job, we meander between these two storylines in a dynamic and balanced way. Going from one to the other in a fluid fashion and never losing the emotional state, increasing the intensity until their outcome. Its script is solid, although we can see contradictory situations (Emmet’s pyre) or situations conveniently inserted in a not very credible way as an excuse for the development of the plot (all the boats arrive, even without an engine, on the same island?). These script conveniences are expected in a sequel since they do not have so much time as in the first film to polish the end product.

Good performances and F/X

Emily Blunt has already become an excellent heroine in action movies, as in the first part of this saga as in Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman, 2014). Cillian Murphy also presents us with a solid performance as the troubled Emmett, convincingly showing the character development in the story. But it’s Millicent Simmonds as Regan, who bears the dramatic weight on the film, and she pulls it off in an excellent way. As her father figure is no longer present, the role that Krasinski played in the first part, the story focuses on her, and she manages to perform this task excellently. Simmonds impregnates her character with determination and vulnerability in similar doses. The F/X are good where we can see more time on the screen the dangerous creatures.

More sequels like this, please.

Certainly, A Quiet Place II no longer has the novelty and freshness of the first part. But thanks to the fact that Krasinski returned to supervise this second installment of the saga, he showed us more angles of a story that still has a lot of juice left. Krasinski’s commitment to maintaining the exciting level of the narrative that he showed us in the first part is evident. The photography, the performances, and a well-constructed story (although with some conveniences) make this film a more than worthy sequel.

Delirium Score