I blame the deaf girl for causing a catastrophe. The boy leaves the baby alone.
In A QUIET PLACE, we had to ignore the fact that in the world that the Abbott family finds itself in, having a baby is so dangerous, that intelligent parents with other children would be deemed horribly irresponsible to have another child. Do the math? When did Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) get pregnant? She didn’t look pregnant at the beginning of A QUIET PLACE 2. Was she already several months pregnant? Did Evelyn get pregnant by husband Lee (John Krasinski) one evening when they were stuck underground with nothing to do, then smoked some dope and listened to Marvin Gaye? We saw how Evelyn controlled the pain of a natural childbirth but we all know that a newborn baby cries a lot and all the time. In their world, any noise brings alien creatures who kill. Lee and Evelyn are not very smart parents, so when their youngest son is given a noisy toy by his sister and a creature kills him, the guilt rests on the parents.
Being outside is a life or death situation!
In A QUIET PLACE 2, director Krasinski introduces us to the first day of the creatures arrival. The family is attending son Marcus’s (Noah Jupe) baseball game. Also attending the game is teenage daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who is deaf. A neighbor, Emmett (Cillian Murphy), is also there watching his son play.
The planet had no idea something alien was in the sky and then it landed. It was a sneak attack. Upon landing, millions of alien creatures cause chaos eating humans. When they arrived, the population of Earth was 7,874,965,825. No matter where they come from and how long was the trip, Earth is their jackpot.
We jump to Day 474. No one knows how many humans are left. Lee died saving his family and now Evelyn, carrying the baby, Marcus, and Regan see their house burn down and now they are on the run to find another sanctuary. A breathing mask keeps the baby quiet. It’s been over one year and no government agency has figured out how to stop these creatures. Where is the U.S. military? Maybe the military found “a quieter place” and said, “Let the dead bury the dead.”
Regan figures it out!
I do not understand exactly how Regan devised a small amp, a microphone, and her hearing aid to generate a high-frequency sound which is the creature’s Kryptonite. When the high-frequency sound is directed at them, they burst apart in a horrible death. What happens when these alien creature’s eat all the humans on the planet? What is the follow-up plan? Do they keep some humans to breed other humans?
All children in all movies never obey their parents. Parents never get mad at their behavior no matter what the dire, murderous consequences.
Regan is also a brilliant strategist. If she wasn’t stuck in Upstate New York, she would be a ‘Go’ champion. The family finds Emmett living in an abandoned steel plant. Emmett hasn’t talked to anyone in 474 days, but even though they are safely underground in a secure impenetrable steel vault, no one has anything to say out loud.
So all humanity has lost the will to live. There are no viable means to survive long term.
Unless you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have a year's supply of food and other essentials.
You know what this could mean, in the future everyone on Earth will be Mormons. In the case of the skyscraper-size asteroid, 99942 Apophis, that may hit Earth in 2068.
I am ashamed of the human race for not figuring out (a) the alien creatures cannot swim and (b) they die a painful death by high-frequency sounds. You would think, even voodoo, would be tried.
Regan hears a song continuously transmitted by some device that ignores news. She thinks the song is a clue to a safe community because alien creatures understand English. Evelyn goes out to look for food, Marcus stays safely underground with the baby, and Regan stubbornly goes off by herself without her mother’s permission. Marcus also can’t obey, gets bored, and leaves the baby. He goes out without a weapon.
Returning back to the plant, Evelyn begs Emmett to go find Regan. He agrees and when he finds her, both are captured by a tribe of nasty, unwashed survivors who, as would be my plan – to sacrifice Regan to the alien creatures as a peace offering.
Emmett and Regan get away from the unruly tribe as the alien creatures arrive and wipes them out. During this melee, Emmett jumps in the water and escapes. Regan gets into a boat and rescues Emmett. They flee to a safe haven island. This community is living in harmony and happy to be free of aliens because the aliens cannot swim to the island.
The safe community welcomes Emmett and Regan and they join their happy picnic. But Regan finding the saved place brings with it three or more alien creatures who slipped aboard the boat. They destroy the community.Thanks Regan. You are responsible for the deaths of men, women and children.
Blunt takes a backseat to the kids who do all the heavy lifting. That was a mistake.
It’s Evelyn we want to see outsmarting the aliens. The creatures, previously only seen in
shadows are now, thanks to a bigger budget, fully realized and ugly.
For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews
on Rotten Tomatoes go to: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critic/victoria-alexander/movies
Contributing to:
FilmsInReview: www.filmsinreview.com
FilmFestivalToday: www.filmfestivaltoday.com
Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.LVFCS.com