HEARING AID (A QUIET PLACE, PART II)

 

Last time, it was the master of horror, Steven King who led praise for John Krasinski's remarkable 'A Quiet Place'.

Now it is William Friedkin, director of 'The Exorcist'.

On seeing John Krasinski's sequel to his surprise 2018 horror hit, Friedkin declared on Twitter: "Cinema is back!"

As one of the first films back in cinemas after a lengthy winter and spring Coronavirus lockdown, hopes have been riding extremely high that Krasinski's much delayed 'A Quiet Place, Part II' would draw audiences back into movie theatres.

Originally slated for release in March 2020, the follow-up even had a world premiere in New York that month, only for the world to suddenly shut down in response to Covid-19.

A year of delay ensued until 'A Quite Place, Part II' finally secured a May 2021 theatrical release in the US, with an appearance on the Paramount+ streaming service 45 days later.

Still being billed as the film that would tempt audiences back into cinemas, the long wait seems to have worked.

At the time of writing, Krasinski's movie has generated over $279 million at the international box office which is almost five times its budget.

But is it any good?

In taking on a sequel, the task facing Krasinski, his cast and crew on 'A Quiet Place, Part II' is undoubtedly huge.

Having concocted a flawless original film which brilliantly played on the concept of noise resulting in aliens mauling people to death, how do you repeat the trick?

Krasinski's solution is to begin the sequel on the first day of the alien invasion with his character, Lee Abbott happily wandering through his abandoned, unnamed small American town.

Most of the inhabitants are at a local baseball game as Lee bounds along the main Street to pick up some groceries at the local drugstore.

Like Amity Island on the Fourth of July in Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' there is an uneasy calm before the storm.

That storm literally comes not long after he arrives at his son's baseball game straight from the drugstore.

As the sky rumbles with a burning object heading towards the Earth, friends and neighbours, including Lee's chum Cillian Murphy's Emmett, start to panic and flee the game.

Lee's family decides to split, with his wife Emily Blunt's Evelyn, Noah Jupe's baseball playing son Marcus and their youngest, Dean Woodward's Beau heading home in the family saloon and his deaf teenage daughter, Millicent Simmonds' Regan joining him for a ride in his pick-up truck.

Heading through town, Lee stops to chat with Okieriete Onaodowan's local police officer Ronnie about the bizarre events when all of a sudden the aliens strike.

Carnage ensues in the main street as they attack locals with Lee rushing to his vehicle and struggling to restart it, with Regan initially oblivious to what is going on.

Passing by the scene, Evelyn, Marcus and Beau panic as cars crash and she is forced to suddenly reverse amid the slaughter while a bus speeds towards them.

Watching this unfold, Regan and Lee bolt out of their truck as the family saloon crashes.

However they are soon forced to do an about turn, running with other locals into a bar and hiding under tables.

Ralising the aliens respond to noise, Lee covers the mouth of one elderly man who nervously recites 'The Lord's Prayer'.

However their location is given away by one of the locals' mobile phone going off and Regan and Lee have to once again run for their lives.

Against all odds, the Abbotts are reunited.

Krasinski, then, fast forwards to events immediately following the first film.

(SPOLIERS ALERT!)

Evelyn, Marcus, Regan and a newborn baby boy have survived an alien onslaught after Beau's tragic death at the start of the original film and Lee's courageous sacrificing of his own life during its climax to save his two surviving kids.

Regan, however, has been empowered by the knowledge from the first film that feedback from her hearing aid can disable the aliens and make them vulnerable to attack.

As the family gathers their belongings on the farm they have made their home, Regan gathers some of the information her father collated on the aliens and tends to the smoke signals he regularly sends to another survivor.

With the baby enclosed in a box with an oxygen mask to avoid detection, Evelyn, Regan and Marcus gingerly head in the direction of the other fire.

This takes them to an old abandoned steel foundry whose occupant observes them with his rifle.

Marcus stands on a bear trap and screaming in agony, alerting the aliens to the family whereabouts.

Evelyn and Regan Manage to prise it open and make their way to safety inside the foundry where the family discover Emmett who has been living a hermit like existence underground following the deaths of his kids and wife.

Emmett is nervous and hardened by his experiences and tells the Abbotts he wants them gone by the morning.

However when Regan decides to set out on her own to track down a radio signal that keeps playing Bobby Darin's classic 'Beyond the Sea,' Evelyn implores him to bring her daughter back safely.

With oxygen supplies for the baby running low and Marcus requiring drugs to avoid infection, Evelyn also undertakes her own perilous journey to the town's drugstore.

What follows is a movie that remains every bit as tense as the original - even though the element of surprise of the first instalment has gone.

We now know what makes the aliens attack and how they can be disabled.

But how does Krasinski turn that knowledge into another taut horror adventure?

Somehow the director and his cast manage to do just that, impressively picking up the baton from 'A Quiet Place' and expanding the post-apocalyptic world the Abbotts inhabit beyond the family farm.

As his characters venture into the forest leading to the foundry and when Regan follows a train track to a harbour town, Krasinski continues to brilliantly exploit the tension between noise and deathly silence.

The actor/writer/director sticks rigidly to the rules of the game established in the first 'A Quiet Place' and does not let his imagination run wild while giving us glimpses of a world scarred by aliens hunting humans.

There are no over the top dystopian 'Mad Max' flights of fancy, although Krasinski's sequel flirts briefly with the notion during an appearance by Scoot McNairy as the leader of a band of feral humans living around a marina.

We also get to see what life could be like after the aliens have been disposed of on an island housing the radio station playing Darin's song which is inhabited by Djimon Honsou's small colony of survivors.

A lot is riding, however, on the shoulders of Millicent Simmonds and Cillian Murphy as their characters brave the new terrain and fortunately they are more than up for the task.

Armed with the knowledge that her hearing aid could save the world, Regan is the most developed character from the original movie.

Simmonds is hugely impressive as she portrays the strength, courage and determination of Regan to build on her father's legacy and defeat the alien invaders.

Murphy is a fantastic addition to the cast, initially depicting a broken, scared, grieving man who reluctantly finds himself drawn into a rescue mission for his friend's deaf teenage daughter.

As their adventure unfolds, Emmett softens and learns to appreciate her genius.

Blunt and Jupe's story arcs may not have developed as dramatically as Simmonds' character but their performances are gripping nevertheless - conveying the terror, nervousness, grieving and agony of a family that has sustained devastating losses 

Working with a new cinematographer Polly Morgan and film editor Michael P Shawver, Krasinski again demonstrates a keen eye and ear for the horror movie genre.

At a running time of 97 minutes, the movie rattles along with great efficiency, never wasting an opportunity to crank up the tension.

With the Oscar nominated team of Erik Aadahl, Michael Barosky, Brandon Proctor and Ethan Van Der Ryn back on board for the sound mixing and editing, every crunch of a leaf underfoot and every clang of metal is imbued with a sense of danger as in the original movie, with audiences nervously expecting an alien attack at any time.

In addition to the 'Jaws' references, there are knowing nods to Hitchcock's 'Psycho,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Alien,' and 'The Exorcist' as before.

Inevitably, though, the film invites comparisons with James Cameron's 'Alien' sequel 'Aliens' and Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' follow-up 'The Lost World' with Krasinski forced to broaden his canvas.

It has to be said that while 'A Quiet Place, Part II' never quite finds that nail in the staircase moment that made the original so memorable, it nevertheless emerges very favourably compared to Cameron and Spielberg's sequels.

Krasinski has to inevitably loosen his tight grip on the Abbotts' world in the first film, expanding the story beyond the family farm in service of a much broader story.

However he does that without ever losing control, denuding the tension or sacrificing his characters' credibility.

With a third instalment due and a rumoured Jeff Nichols spin-off in the works, the element of surprise will further whittle down and maintaining the quality of both 'A Quiet Place' movies will be even more challenging.

But don't bet against Krasinski pulling it off if he takes that challenge on as a writer and director one more time.

('A Quiet Place, Part II' opened in UK and Irish cinemas on May 28, 2021)

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