A Quiet Place: Day One was not the movie I was expecting it to be.
While I thought the first Quiet Place movie was a clever and well-made horror film, I have to admit I can’t remember if I actually watched the sequel or not. And I wasn’t necessarily interested in seeing a prequel.
However, sometimes I get the irrepressible urge to go to the theater to see a movie on the big screen, and in a summer blockbuster season that’s felt surprisingly lackluster overall, A Quiet Place: Day One seemed like my best option.
And you know what? I’m really glad I made an effort to see it. It’s a surprisingly emotional, moving film. Sure, there are definitely elements of horror and action, but there’s also a quiet, melancholy tale about humanity and the fragility of life nestled in the core of this film.
I’ve seen some discussion online from fans who were disappointed in A Quiet Place: Day One, and I can respect that. If you were anticipating a thriller that explains more about how the alien creatures come to Earth and why they act the way they do, you won’t find any answers here. However, I very much appreciated the smaller scale of this movie, and I loved it for what it was.
For the uninitiated, the first Quiet Place movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has gone silent. Alien monsters hunt the Earth, tracking their prey by sound, and so in order to survive, humans must remain as quiet as possible.
Day One takes place – you guessed it – on the day the aliens first arrive in New York City. I don’t want to get into spoilers for those who haven’t yet seen the film and are curious about it; however, it’s difficult to describe why I found this film so compelling without revealing a few details.
So if you want to remain completely spoiler free, this is the best point to stop reading. If you are a fan of the franchise and are looking for answers about the aliens, this may not be the film for you. However, if you’re interested in an emotional human drama taking place against the backdrop of the end of the world, it’s well worth checking out.
Plot detail 1 I wasn’t expecting: Lupita Nyong’o plays the main character, Samira, and what I hadn’t realized is that her character is a hospice patient who is dying of cancer. It’s an immediately heavy backstory to place on the shoulders of a character, and it creates a unique lens through which to present an apocalyptic story. Samira already knew her life was ending, and now the entire world around her is ending as well. It was important to me that this storyline be handled with care and sensitivity, and I think the film makers did a good job.
Plot detail 2 I wasn’t expecting: You probably saw Samira’s pet cat, Frodo, in the trailers, and I was very anxious what Frodo’s fate would be. (If you too were worried about Frodo, here’s a spoiler about his fate: he is among the survivors at the end of the film.) It was unique to chose a cat, rather than a perhaps easier-to-film dog, as Samira’s pet, but the cat is a wonderful addition to the story. I also deeply respect that they used real cats instead of CGI, and it adds an important element of authenticity to the film.
Plot detail 3 I wasn’t expecting: Joseph Quinn plays Samira’s fellow protagonist in the film, but you don’t get much at all about his backstory. To some, this might feel frustrating, and I get that. However, it worked for me, because it makes sense that you’d have random people thrown together in a disaster, and since no one can make noise, you can’t really chat in depth about your background. Emotions and expressions carry a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of acting in this film.
Overall, I was surprised by how much this movie touched me, and I’m glad I made an effort to go see it in the theater. It’s also a great reminder that like any genre, horror is not just one thing or one standard approach. This was a great film, and I’d like to see more like it.
