Not Quite a Review of: A Quiet Place

I have accidentally developed, what I think, is a very advantageous way to go about seeing movies.  It is by no means new, in fact I see people online talk about purposefully doing this same thing, but for me it was just something that sort of happened.  To keep from making it sound like I'm hyping up this "amazing movie watching tip" I'll just get the point and say that it's nothing more than going in as blind as possible.  No trailers, no screenshots, no reviews or previews, and even avoiding knowing the cast if possible.  As I opened with, this came kind of naturally to me after I essentially stopped seeing ads in general.  I don't have cable, block ads online, and don't keep up with pop-culture in general, so I really don't have to do much to avoid knowing about most films coming out.  I also don't see a lot of new films, maybe one or two a year, which makes it even easier.  All that preamble is really just a long winded way of me trying to say, if you haven't heard anything about it, stop reading this and go see A Quiet Place.  As far as I'm concerned, the less you know going in, the better.

Of course I don't expect most people to take my advice, and to an extent a recommendation like that is somewhat useless when I know nothing about you and what you like, or you about me.  So if you need a little bit more than nothing, A Quiet Place is a horror film, but even that label doesn't do the movie justice because the horror elements are really just a device and backdrop for this family and their struggles both internal and external.  If for some reason you absolutely cannot handle tension and moments of fear, I suppose this movie wouldn't be for you but would still strongly suggest giving it a shot.  If you're not looking for a movie that will make you feel things besides happy, the same applies.

A Quiet Place was a surprise in a lot of ways.  For context, all I knew for the week up to the movie coming out was the basic premise.  Some sort of creatures have appeared that kill anyone who makes noise.  That was it...until the morning I was set to go and I accidentally caught sight of a public TV showing a clip from the movie.  I didn't see much, except it would've been nice to not know who was starring in the movie before going in.  Still, considering how much more I probably could've been spoiled about, I consider myself lucky going in knowing only that much.

I'll start with everything I found great.  Number one being how much of the movie was silent and the sparse dialogue.  Speaking is very infrequent, as even a whisper could draw the creatures and lead to death, so spoken lines, and even sound in general throughout the movie, is rare.  That makes the impact that much greater when there is a sound or characters are allowed to speak.  I even loved the focus on sign language, which I am ashamed to say was probably a giant risk in getting the movie funded and made.  It was just so refreshing and different in ways that most western movies don't tend to be, at least ones that get a wide release.

I also loved the beginning.  Everything the viewer needs to know about the world and the dynamic of this family is established without words and sets the tone just right for the remainder of the journey.  The last point kind is a combination of the characters and the acting.  I combine the two because of how incredible I find it to get so attached to these characters, to feel that they're so real, when they rarely (and one never does) speak. The Father in particular gave probably the most believable performance I've seen in a live-action film in years.

Now, the less than great.  I can't start anywhere but the end, because that last one or two seconds just didn't work.  It didn't fit with the themes, tone, character, or anything.  It felt like the ending to a much different, more generic and worse, movie was just tacked on.  It is just one second of inconsistency, but being the last second makes the effect worse, linger as the last image the viewer has of an otherwise amazing experience.

I could nitpick some other things, there is a few minor plot holes here or there, but I don't really see the point in it.  What the movie does with what it has, and more importantly chooses not to use, is amazing in itself, but to come out as such a great movie all around feels even more special.  A Quiet Place is more than the sum of its parts and well worth being the one film I see in theaters this year.