No need to make noise for this franchise prequel
Both the original A Quiet Place and its follow up, A Quiet Place Part II, made my Top 10 lists for 2018 and 2021, respectively. A Quiet Place: Day One, the new film in the series, however, falls far short of achieving that honor this year. A prequel to the original movie, this third film in the franchise offers audiences nothing new, and merely repeats elements that made the first two movies so successful.
Part of the problem is that John Krasinski, the franchise’s original writer and director, only has a story credit here. He’s handed the reins to writer/director Michael Sarnoski, who made 2021’s well-received Nicolas Cage vehicle Pig. If mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, Sarnoski must really want Krasinski’s approval, since he uses the latter’s story components and style unapologetically.
For those who may have missed the first two films, watching this one as a start isn’t actually a bad idea in terms of following the story, since the first two films start in media res – days and months after an alien invasion of earth. The conceit of the franchise is that the aliens – giant, grotesque, praying mantis-like beings – can’t see, but possess a hearing prowess that would humble even Jaime Sommers and her bionic ear.
With a title like Day One, Sarnoski’s film would seem to promise that we’ll get an explanation as to the whys and hows of the alien invasion, but we get no backstory of their origins or their intentions. And all the human characters seem to instantly figure out that the aliens respond to even the softest of sounds, so if you were hoping for an intriguing look at how that important element was slowly and painfully discovered, you won’t find it here. In this screenplay, everyone needs to know that fact immediately, it seems, to quickly create the danger that sets the action in motion.
Set in New York City, the film’s hero this time is Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a hospice patient who’s on a hospice field trip to the world’s saddest marionette show when the aliens attack. Though terminally ill, somehow Sam has the strength to run and dodge the aliens. Joining her is Eric (Joseph Quinn), a British law student who latches on to her and her trusty service cat, Frodo. At least Sarnoski didn’t CGI the cat. Instead, Schnitzel and Nico share the part, and do for this film what Messi the dog did for last year’s Anatomy of a Fall.
The only returning character from the series is Djimon Hounsou, who we last saw in Part II leading a band of survivors on an island. Day One tells us his name – Henri – and we see how he organized the survivors to escape to build that colony. That minor connection aside, though, the new film is mostly just a series of close calls for Sam, Eric, and Frodo as they alternatively hide and flee from the aliens. Much of the time the film feels strangely inert, and Sam’s quest to get pizza at the Harlem bar she used to frequent with her father doesn’t feel like worthy enough stakes to make us care if she gets there or not.
The ending provides a little bit more excitement than the repetitive chase scenes that precede it, and the film’s use of sound is bound to earn a sound design Oscar nomination. Unlike the other two films, this one has very little dialogue, which helps the verisimilitude of what we’re watching, but doesn’t do much in terms of providing a lot of narrative context. Nyong’o, Quinn, and Hounsou do their best with what dialogue there is, but, in the end, the star of this show is that brave and loyal kitty, whose purr speaks volumes.
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A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now.
