A Quiet Place Part II

John Krasinski's turn at directing, writing and starring in the 2018 thriller, A Quiet Place, was a creative experience that brought new life to the genre with its emphasis on sound but it fell through the cracks when it came to me writing about it. However, it was a pretty good film that knew how to create suspense in a world where monsters have crashed onto Earth via a meteorite and are drawn to anything that creates noise.

I'm not sure I found myself asking for a sequel but Krasinski returns once more to direct A Quiet Place Part II that sees his on and offscreen wife, played by Emily Blunt, after the events of the last film trying to reach safety for what remains of her family. Starting with a thrilling flashback to the day when the monsters arrived, the sequel sees the family come across a neighbour from their hometown, played by Cillian Murphy, as they try to follow a mysterious signal that could help get them to safety after over 400 days of keeping quiet. 

Krasinski once again proves to be a master at suspense and while we now know what the monsters look like, Part II is still just as thrilling to watch in this tightly crafted 90 minute experience. However, even though the original ran at similar time, the sequel here feels rather too short and missing something in the way of a third act which could be intentional as Part III is in the works. We still get great performances from all of the cast and it never drags in the story we get but I feel the film should have explored some of the events in the latter half before reaching its conclusion. 

I had a fun time watching A Quiet Place Part II despite its rather trimmed-down running time as it seems the writers/producers are intent at making a trilogy. I hope there's a good conclusion to come at the end of this all as the original didn't resolve the monster situation but it would have worked neatly as a standalone thriller, and what we have here doesn't take drastic strides at developing the overall story. Part II is a fun and engaging experience, even if it doesn't break new ground, and is an easy one to recommend.