A Quiet Place: Day One

 You know, I promised you three sports anime movies at the beginning of the month. But something happened yesterday on the way to the third, Blue Lock: Episode Nagi. I headed off to the bus for an 11:30 show. On the way there, I discovered that the theatre changed the showtimes without warning. The earliest showtime now, according to the schedule, was 2:00. So, no to waiting nearly three hours for a movie ...

SHUT UP, STUPID! DO YOU WANT US TO GET KILLED---

(ROAR)!

(SLICE)!

And instead, I find myself straight in A Quiet Place: Day One. Here, we go back to the start of the invasion of The Death Angels, those pesky blind aliens that kill everything that makes noise, for another masterful showcase in sound design. What else does it have?

After two films with the Abbotts in Upstate New York, this prequel takes us to NYC itself, where we find Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) and her cat, Frodo. Sam, a published poet, lives in hospice with terminal cancer. A hospice worker, Reuben (Alex Wolff), takes her and a few patients on a field trip to a puppet show. That's when the Death Angels show up and wreck everyone's day. 

As military helicopters guide survivors to the ferries - the Death Angels can't swim - Sam heads for Harlem for a slice at her favorite pizzeria before her cancer or the Death Angels kill her. Along the way, she's joined by Eric (Joseph Quinn), as her reluctant traveling companion. A silent walk in the world's loudest city shouldn't be a problem, right? Right?!

As I previously mentioned, director Michael Sarnoski takes over for John Krasinski, though both of them collaborated on the screen story. Sarnoski's actual screenplay is a simple quest that runs an adequate 99 minutes. It doesn't need to expand on the outside world as much as the previous films. Sam's pizza quest amidst the apocalypse may strike rather odd for some. But you'll understand her once you learn of her sentimental attachment to the place. She and Eric bond nicely throughout the film, using a rainstorm to mask even the slightest conversations and enjoying quiet card games at a jazz club. Frodo is delightfully cuddly, but I'm astounded at how level-headed he is compared to the humans

But even the film's least level-headed humans aren't infuriatingly stupid. In fact, some of them are pitiable, like a panicking guy at the puppet theater who gets accidentally permanently shushed by Henri (Djimon Hounsou's "Man on the Island" from Part II). There's a woman following a scene I'll describe later who's holding back a scream with all her might. You won't blame her if she didn't. Eric is a nervous wreck, which is partially why Sam is reluctant to let him join her. His narrow escape from a flooded subway, where we first see him, certainly doesn't help his nerves. He proves himself when he distracts the Death Angels with car vandalism, and later ventures for Sam's pain medicine. The biggest jerk is a store owner who reprimands Sam for bringing Frodo despite him having a cat. But that's still not enough to warrant death by Death Angel (I think he's dead. His store is later shown destroyed).

 As the opening states, New York has a noise level of 90 decibels, and we get nearly fifteen minutes of its hustle and bustle before the invasion starts. We then get audible highlights such as stampeding Death Angels, an inconvenient power generator, and several jump scares. Its most striking moment is the collective silent noise of several hundred survivors, which adds up to adequate Death Angel bait. That's the scene I alluded to in the last paragraph. That ought to be the scene shown for the inevitable Sound Oscar Bakeoff. The puppet show is scored to stunningly elegant music by composer Alexis Grapsas, whose themes for the Death Angels perfectly sell us on their shear menace.

The Death Angels were already bad news in the first two films. The bad news keeps coming as they swarm all over the city; one swarm drops down to pursue Sam & Eric. When Eric and Frodo wind up at their nest, a construction site, we get glimpses of a bigger Death Angel. Yikes. Still, one of the film's most satisfying moments is seeing one realize too late that it can't swim. The visual effects for the monsters are impressive, as is the production design for post-apocalyptic New York. There was an excessively shaking stationary shot in the second half, but not even that is enough to downgrade Pat Scola's stunning cinematography. Suffice to say, this is a movie as visually impressive as it is audibly impressive.

If anything, A Quiet Place: Day One amplifies the anticipation for next year's Part III. I mean, how will the Abbotts deal with that giant Death Angel, if it or another like it, shows up? I guess we'll have to find out. In the meantime, you can find out how these humans and cat deal with the alien apocalypse. I'm sure you can find it in a theatre near you, unlike Blue Lock. Just don't make a sound.