A Quiet Place: Review

Emerging from his quaint, little desk in Scranton, Pennsylvania - The Office star John Krasinski makes his directorial debut whilst leading alongside real life partner Emily Blunt. A Quiet Place is set in the post apocalyptic near future where a family must live in dead silence or else creatures that surround them will hunt and kill - that is if they detect a single sound. This eerie creature feature also happens to be produced by Transformers'  Michael Bay. 

You're paralysed in utter silence for a brief ninety minutes in anticipation of some well earned scares, however Krasinski's directorial debut isn't worth all the hush. The main problem with A Quiet Place is how hard it pushes itself as a horror movie when there are genuinely no frightening scares across a movie that is built upon the expectation of them. By no means is it personal, I happen to be sacred of legitimately everything - however this Cloverfield esque thriller just doesn't live up to the hype. 

As it begins, A Quiet Place is, of course, quiet. Following a creepy opening scene that throws you straight into the mix of this post apocalyptic world where nobody can make a single sound - Krasinski's unique gimmick of dead silence is both incredibly original and instantly spine tingling. Unlike most post disaster thriller flicks - A Quiet Place opens on "Day 89" and refrains from showing the initial day the unknown creatures arrived to earth; in that sense the movie quickly overcomes a clichéd hurdle that would've it tripped up immediately. Whilst this originality sticks and is consistent throughout - in terms of story, things wear a little thin. 

The entire first half of A Quiet Place is dedicated to setting up the human characters - the Abbott family. Although the pacing here may be a little slow, I found the first act far more engaging than the second, ironic really as the latter half of the film is supposedly where all the proper scares lie. Kransinski crafts an incredibly isolated world that's eerie atmosphere undoubtedly never dies down, it's praiseworthy how the actor turned director creates such a convincing world surrounded by fabulous performances and an unexpectedly visual experience. 

Aside this commendable originality A Quiet Place is left feeling rather incomplete. This gradual, some may argue sluggish first half isn't coupled with a rewarding finale of terrifying moments. It feels as if you've done all the work required, sacrificing the crunch of your salty popcorn and been set up for a frightening feast of thrills and terror but are ultimately left with no scary moments to compliment the originally of the film's premise. This wouldn't appear so much of a problem if A Quiet Place didn't boast so greatly about its "horror" aspect.  

A Quiet Place will most definitely place Krasninki on the map as a noteworthy director, as for a first its fairly impressive - however the film doesn't deliver on the frightening fuss surrounding it. Conceptually the film thrives but when it comes to genuine fear you might as well pass on the loud snacks or even save your money for a scarier film. 

A Quiet Place:

Okay