A Quiet Place: Day One

It keeps viewers captivated and complements the two preceding films.  Like a favorite rollercoaster ride, it slows down when it needs to for audience members to catch their breath and speeds up, roaring over the hill, plunging to despair before coming to a slowing halt. The seat bar rises as “Whew, what a ride” echoes.  The music plays, and the adventure is complete.  Contentment arises as the auditorium lights signal that the not-so-quiet journey is over.

Making sequels or trilogies fresh, new, and enjoyable is a fantastic talent.  To challenge the notion that “we have seen this before” (which we have) or that it is the same thing with more action and special effects is a momentous task. Therefore, when the last movie in a trilogy that is a prequel to the original comes to the big screen, audiences are looking at it with a discerning eye, if not two.  But who would have thought a terminal illness, hopeless circumstances, the meaning of life, and a pepperoni pizza would be the recipe for success?  A complete course meal that is not only delicious and full of flavors but is entirely satisfying.

A Quiet Place:  Day One starts at the beginning of the Alien invasion, not in the small town of Millbrook, New York, with the Abbott family like the first two installments, but in the city that never sleeps and is never quiet, New York City.  Lupita Nyong’o plays Sam, who is terminally ill and has lost the inspiration of life.  While on a field trip with her hospice group, an alien invasion strikes the city, and her meaning of life quickly changes as she finds meaning in a hopeless situation and a chance encounter with a stranger, Eric (Joseph Quinn).

What more is left to say or utter in excellence about Lupita Nyong’o? Audiences fell in love with her for her Academy-winning performance in 12 Years A Slave and her memorable roles in Star Wars:  Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Black Panther, and Us as Adelaide Wilson and Red.  Lupita’s performance shines no less bright as she embraces a woman who finds humanity in the complexity of pain.  The dire circumstance of survival gives her that feeling of being alive when her certainty is death, either by the monster aliens that prowl that city or her terminal illness.  She is willing to fight until the bitter end, not to succumb to the circumstances around her but on her own terms.

Here is an added note.  To really appreciate the film is to watch it on IMAX.  One can watch the movie, or as this film is intended, it is for viewers to be part of the movie.  Experience the movie means feeling the stillness of the scenes, noises that cause uneasiness while sitting in a chair, or the feeling of being attacked by aliens crawling on the back of the seats in the auditorium.  A Quiet Place:  Day One finds creative ways for the audience to be prepared to be shocked in one situation, but the shock comes from something else, like that of a magician who gets the audience staring at his right hand where the action is taking place only to keep them away from looking at his left hand where the magic is happening.

A Quiet Place:  Day One has a storyline that audiences can sink their teeth into.  It keeps viewers captivated and complements the two preceding films.  Like a favorite rollercoaster ride, it slows down when it needs to for audience members to catch their breath and speeds up, roaring over the hill, plunging to despair before coming to a slowing halt. The seat bar rises as “Whew, what a ride” echoes.  The music plays, and the adventure is complete.  Contentment arises as the auditorium lights signal that the not-so-quiet journey is over.