Rent A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

Highly Enjoyable Spin-off Set in New York, Filmed in London, with a Gorgeous Cat! - A Quiet Place: Day One review by PV

I was surprised how much I liked this.

The first A QUIET PLACE film was original but so riddled with plot holes it was annoying; the sequel was dreadful; I have not watched part 3.

This genuinely surprised me in how much I liked it and was occasionally moved by it too, especially at the start.

Yes, there are CGI computer-game-style monsters which bore me as CLOVERFIELD did too - not real, like dinosaurs were (even though movies show very fictionalised versions of the truth; in reality, a T-Rex could not roar or run! No matter...)

Amazing this was films at UK studios and in London, nowhere near New York. I think they filmed at Canary Wharf and the river is the Thames!

Another British connection. The song FEELING GOOD was written by Brits. Anthony Newley (who did the music and was David Bowie's biggest influence) and Leslie Bricusse (did lyrics) for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. It was first performed on stage in 1964. They also wrote the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical as in the early 1970s US movie, incl the IMAGINATION film, and they also wrote the lyrics to the Bond film GOLDFINGER. Nina Simone did not write that much.

The main character actress - Star Wars and Wakanda star - puts on her usual emote face, but does it effectively. A bit tiresome the white male (Brit, from Kent!) is shown as weak and needing the support of a woman (and one of colour). They'll be dancing in the streets of metoo BLM diversity department town tonight! LOL! Because these days, a woman can never ever cry or be weak in films or need the help of a man (as happens so regularly in real life...)

Oh and I LOVED the cat - or cats, as 2 VERY obedient cats play the role (no cat I have ever known would take orders!). Not sure it's a great idea to walk a cat on a lead through a city, where dogs get walked, but...

A Quiet Place - Means We Can't Hear The Moaning About This Great Film, so Win-Win - A Quiet Place: Day One review by Strovey

The original Quiet Place was derivative of the Matthew Fox starrer Extinction (check it out) but was a good film in its own right and enjoyable although a few plot points and storylines made little to no sense. The second film was weaker and spoiled the chance to expand the story in a significant way. So there is a lot of credit here to John Krasinski who from interviews seems to have deliberately moved away from his tales and wanted to go in a different direction, with a new location, new actors, new writers and director and I have to say for me it works.

Lupita Nyong’o is a great actor and is given a protagonist with a bit more about her in a tale like this. She is terminally ill and is basically fed up and uncaring. Now put her in a situation where noise means death how would she react to it? How would you? I find this interesting. Then add in Joseph Quinn, who more than holds his own in the acting stakes, who is kind and terrified to paralysis and you have something different for this type of tale.

Focussing on the relationship and characters and having the alien monsters as almost supporting cast is a good, interesting and dare I say challenging idea. The film puts you in their place, so from start to finish both Sam and Eric have no idea what is happening, why or what the attackers are, just like if this incident occurred you or I would.

Too many films wrap up tales and story points with exposition and unlikely interactions. A huge sci-fi franchise for instance where every single character bumps into the people at the very top of the command chain. My dad was always having tea with Winston Churchill in World War Two, so it could happen. Except it does not.

The film is gripping, and you do feel peril for the two, but it does not rely on gore or jump scares, only aftermath gore. Again, it is better for this.

Included in the story, something that seemed made entirely for me; in the first two films the aliens just killed people, the did not even eat them, seemed to kill them for no reason and run off, especially in the sequel. Here we see a sort of nest where it looks as if victims are cultivated for food or an ‘alien’ nursery, I could not tell if my view on this was correct, and no one explained it or even talked about it in the story. At last, someone understands proper storytelling, let the viewer do some friggin’ work.

New York looked devastated, Lupita looked peed off and Joseph looked scared and the monsters seemed more realistic to me, not faultless, car alarms fooled them and water does them in.

After the film ended I did a bit of looking for general opinions of the film and found out why I do not go the cinema much nowadays and watch films on my own.

Dozens and dozens of complaints that the aliens were not ‘explained’, not enough aliens attacking tanks, not enough death, mayhem and explosions. It was noted with much mirth and derision Nyong’o’s character just ‘wants to get a pizza, how stupid’.

The story explains why she wants a pizza very clearly at the end, it makes sense and it is clear and obvious.

Furthermore, she has a terminal illness and no matter what happens she is not going to survive. The story has to focus on survivors, otherwise there is no story, seeing monstrous aliens attacking where they are in numbers in exciting and graphic action means they would not survive, just like in real life none of us would.

I think some people might need to watch things other than CGI-infested explosion-fests.

Day One is a good alien invasion horror film, the strongest in the trilogy for the setting, the acting and the story.

Of the many films I have seen recently I would watch it again, in fact I might do before I post it back to Cinema Paradiso, and I might even buy the Blu Ray. Easily the best horror/sci-fi/monster film I have seen in quite some time.

Finally, if you love cats, you will love this film.

A Creature Feature Too Far - A Quiet Place: Day One review by Alphaville

Can’t understand the good reviews for this disappointing prequel in the franchise. In this one the now-familiar alien creatures invade New York. Nice apocalyptic set design but not much else. Our hero and heroine, pointlessly lumbered with a cat, try to get away. Fortunately it turns out the creatures can’t hear footsteps this time around. The two dull leads have little to say or do except cower quietly. It doesn’t help that much of the film is shot in darkness or dark spaces, so that we can barely see their faces. With many scenes of nothing much happening at all, the edit even resorts to standard jump cuts of pouncing creatures to keep the audience awake. There’s so little going on that, even at 90+ minutes, it seems far too long. The first film was excellent, the second okay… and it’s best to stop now.