A Quiet Place Part 2 review

The sequel to one of the best horror movies of all time, A Quiet Place Part 2 was originally going to open on March 20th...2020. It was delayed less than 2 weeks before that date, which was itself just days after the major shutdowns began.

Move ahead 14 months and it is now the big summer movie season kickoff. It's a one year throwback to the days when Memorial Day Weekend was always the weekend when the first big summer movie came out. Not since 1994 has a big movie not been released in May until the holiday. 

Part 2 opens with a flashback to day 1 of the monster invasion. A nice fun day at a little league ballgame turns apocalyptic. I honestly could have gone for a whole movie of just this day. It's one of the best ten minutes of any movie in years, packed for maximum dread and completely riveting.

Then the movie jumps forward to literally right after part 1 ended, where Emily Blunt and her kids have just found out a way to defeat the monsters.

They all set out to locate the source of a signal fire, which brings them into contact with Cillian Murphy, a family friend, who has been living all alone inside a dilapidated factory. 

From here the plot splinters, as certain characters go off on separate missions.

Obviously John Krasinski's character is dead (he only pops up in the opening), and Blunt has a slightly less central role this time. This time the driving force really is Millicent Simmonds as the deaf daughter, who is determined to reach a nearby island that she believes other survivors are living. (We learn in this movie that the monsters can't swim). Simmonds is fantastic in this, really carrying the movie at times and ably handling the drama and the action, and she also gets a couple of the film's best tension set pieces.

This is definitely a little more action heavy than part 1, which was more full on horror. But Krasinski turns the screws really well on a few very tense sequences (you've never been more afraid of a messy desk). 

The film ends on the same kind of abrupt, open ending as part 1 did. I certainly think there is a lot more meat on the bone for this franchise, and I can't wait for part 3. 

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