Yahoo Movies A Quiet Place: Day One is an emotional and intense prequel
Everything's been a bit quiet, ironically, for A Quiet Place: Day One ahead of release – never usually a good sign for any movie, let alone the latest instalment in a popular franchise.
While Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn – and, more importantly, Schnitzel and Nico the cats – have been on a press tour, reviews for the horror prequel were embargoed until day of release, with screenings only taking place in the past week or so.
It's common for a Marvel movie, usually in an attempt to limit spoilers being released, but you'd be forgiven for being concerned when it comes to A Quiet Place: Day One.
Luckily, we can alleviate all those fears right now!
A Quiet Place: Day One is another excellent instalment in the franchise, delivering the tense set pieces you'd expect, but also with an emotional core that you might not.
It appears as though Paramount took the Marvel approach with the late embargo for A Quiet Place: Day One.
Something is revealed in the opening scene that has been kept out of all marketing to date, distinguishing Day One from the other two movies – and not just because it's a prequel. It instantly turns it from just another apocalyptic scare-fest into something more intimate and affecting.
We're not going to reveal it here, but fear not, it's not the kind of spoiler that would ruin your experience of the movie. If anything, it might even make the movie seem more interesting to you, as well as confirming just why Pig filmmaker Michael Sarnoski was the perfect fit for this movie.
Otherwise, it's very much business as usual. Samira (Lupita Nyong'o) finds herself in the heart of New York City when the aliens invade. Along the way, she reluctantly teams up with Eric (Joseph Quinn), and the two quickly have to adapt to survive in this new environment where the slightest noise can kill you.
A Quiet Place Part II didn't stray too far from what made the first movie a hit, and likewise, Sarnoski doesn't deviate much from the formula. We get a regular succession of intense alien-attack set pieces, taking place on a larger scale and using excellent sound design to make even the slightest fabric rip sound like a jet engine.
There's nothing to these set pieces we haven't seen in the previous two movies, meaning it can feel overly familiar at times, but they're so precisely honed that you'll find yourself holding your breath all the same, especially when Frodo the cat (played by Schnitzel and Nico) is in danger. Not that he'd know it, the movie perfectly captures the nonchalance of a cat in any situation.
Crucially, even on the wider canvas of a city, Sarnoski is careful to keep the focus on our main characters. The opening attack is as disorientating for the audience as it is for Sam, stumbling around in a heavy plume of dust and smoke as those around her are violently killed.
Sarnoski often seems more interested in the quieter, alien-free moments of humanity, developing Samira and Eric as characters you care for to make the set pieces more terrifying. It helps, of course, when you've got two leading stars with talent like Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn.
With minimal dialogue – and what dialogue there is having to be delivered in whispers – Nyong'o commands the screen, every emotion conveyed by her facial expressions. Samira's development across the movie might be conventional – stoic loner to trusting friend – but Nyong'o makes it feel fresh and earned.
Joseph Quinn enters proceedings a bit later than you'd expect, but sparks up an instant chemistry with Nyong'o. Eric is the opposite of Samira: he's terrified to the point of having panic attacks, clinging to Samira for strength. In Quinn's charismatic hands though, it's endearing rather than pathetic, and their interaction brings moments of levity.
Samira and Eric's friendship also brings a deeper emotional aspect compared to the previous two movies. If you thought Lee signing 'I love you' to Regan in the first movie was a lot, wait until you get to a beautiful sequence in a bar between Samira and Eric. You'll cry over pizza.
Of course, the real scene-stealer is Schnitzel the cat (and double Nico) as Frodo who, rightly, gets his own hero moments. Nyong'o and Quinn are superb, but they can't compete with an adorable cat who clearly does not give a damn that he's in an apocalypse.
We get that you might be fearful about whether we needed a prequel, but A Quiet Place: Day One justifies its place in the series. It's not the movie you might expect and that's a good thing.
For more on A Quiet Place: Day One, check out:
• How long is A Quiet Place: Day One?
• Everything you need to know about A Quiet Place 3
• How Stranger Things helped Joseph Quinn on A Quiet Place: Day One
• Lupita Nyong'o had "cat therapy" for A Quiet Place: Day One
A Quiet Place: Day One is out now in cinemas.
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