A Quiet Place (2018)

★★½
A Quiet Place is an effective little horror movie that offers an interesting challenge for its characters, then comes up with ways for them to negotiate that challenge that range from subtlety clever to downright ingenious. The horrifying scenario presented here could have been rife with standard fright movie set pieces, yet co-writer and director John Krasinski wants to set the tone with atmosphere and silence, and he wants us to be patient as events unfold. The result is a satisfying thriller, though imperfect, which is unfortunate.

An alien invasion has decimated the population and reduced the remaining humans to scavenging for supplies in an apocalyptic landscape. The aliens are blind and have tough armor but use highly sensitive hearing to hunt their prey. Humans can sneak around if they remain completely silent. John Krasinski stars as Lee Abbott. He and his family live on a farm that they have outfitted for long term off-the-grid living. Wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and children Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe) have managed to survive over 470 days into the incident. A third child fell victim to the aliens, and there’s another on the way. Evelyn is nine months pregnant.

Most of the movie has no dialogue. The Abbotts use sign language to communicate and have a routine in place to evade the threat. A fishing trip to a river with a waterfall allows Lee and Marcus to communicate verbally, and the farmland gives the family the food to survive. Through a series of mishaps and bad timing, the aliens descend on the farm to threaten the family, resulting in a frantic sequence in which ingenuity will prevail. I like movies like this. Characters who understand their situation and know what to do to survive combine for a winning formula. It’s the kind of movie that moves quickly, and when it ups the ante, the tension only increases because the enemies are cunning, fast and vicious.

It’s also the kind of movie that will inspire those who think they’re smarter than the characters to come up with alternative methods of survival, like the time I saw The Edge in the theater in 1997 and someone behind me kept saying “do this” or “don’t do that.” For this movie, Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central wonders why the family didn’t settle near a river, which can dampen noise. That assumes this family had the resources, equipment and time to build a house, or a shelter of any kind, without attracting attention and install solar panels in the middle of the woods where they would be less effective. No, I won’t second guess the family’s decision to live where it lives. All locations will have their advantages and disadvantages.

To be sure, there are legitimate criticisms. Given the situation, sexual activity is a bad idea. Evelyn’s pregnancy is problematic and comes across as an easy way to raise the stakes during the siege on the house, a siege that starts all because of an upright nail that mysteriously shows up on one of the basement steps. I also guessed the aliens’ weakness early in the story, even before seeing the newspaper headline tacked to Lee’s work desk that prompts us to consider the question. However, once Regan observes how her hearing aid (actress Millicent Simmonds is deaf) reacts to a nearby alien, she comes up with a plan to deploy her newfound weapon on a large scale, which I found highly satisfying. A Quiet Place has its weaknesses, but the premise and characters’ actions are strong enough to carry the day.

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