A Quiet Place: Day One
Year: 2024
Rating: PG-13
Length: 99 minutes / 1.65 hours
It’s wild to think that it’s been six years since A Quiet Place (2018) released. The concept was unique and fresh and lent itself to plenty of suspenseful moments. And while I thought both it and its 2021 sequel could have been trimmed down to a single, albeit somewhat long movie, I still loved the idea of a modern “silent film” that relies on its imagery as much as its lack of verbal dialogue. But did this really need a prequel?
One of the great parts of the original Quiet Place was that it didn’t explain how things came to be this way, it just dealt with surviving in this new reality. In A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), humanity first faces the threat of these aliens who attack any noise that might catch their attention. It’s still unknown why these aliens came to Earth or what their goal is, but that doesn’t lessen the suspenseful moments the humans must navigate so they can survive this invasion. Distancing itself from the other two films, Day One is able to tell different stories in a much more challenging location: the heart of New York City.
Ultimately, this film didn’t really explore anything new. Even if it re-tread some of what made the first movie so gripping, it merely reinforces how strong that initial concept is. What makes these kinds of films work is the humans who inhabit these apocalyptic scenarios. Day One has some very compelling characters, which is part of the reason it works. Granted, every movie in this franchise has people doing stupid things for their own reasons, but at least I wanted to see them succeed just to beat the odds.
A slightly different version of what made A Quiet Place an excellent film, I give A Quiet Place: Day One 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
