A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

★★★
A Quiet Place Part II picks up right where the previous film left off, carries over the strengths of that movie, and expands its world to include other survivors. It opens with a fantastic sequence that reveals the origin of the aliens and establishes how they quickly took over the planet. It leaves a few breadcrumbs behind for a potential sequel, which will hopefully delve more deeply into how the aliens got here. There are still questions that I had when it was over, but I’m confident Part III will tackle these and more when it comes around. This movie is better than the first one and shows that writer/director John Krasinski has a good idea of where to take this story.

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.