Reviews

After two hit movies in the main A Quiet Place franchise, we’re now being treated to a fresh perspective on the alien invasion with the spin-off A Quiet Place: Day One.

The prequel takes us right back to the start of the apocalypse, with the emergence of the blind aliens who hunt humans using their hypersensitive hearing.

Set in New York City, the story follows Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a cancer sufferer who is there on a day trip with her hospice. After the aliens crash down and start wiping out the human race, she tries to reach her old childhood neighbourhood of Harlem without making any noise.

This journey is challenging because she is not alone – she is accompanied by her support cat Frodo and British law school student Eric (Joseph Quinn), a stranger who tags along for company.

Day One, written and directed by Michael Sarnoski instead of John Krasinski, offers up a fresh perspective on the apocalypse. Instead of the Abbott family, we follow two strangers coming together for support, companionship and survival. The dynamic is very different and this makes the human centre of the disaster compelling and quite moving.

While the grounded character moments are more interesting, there are still plenty of big and loud setpieces to satisfy those coming for the spectacle. These exciting scenes feel very similar to the opening of A Quiet Place Part II.

Although this film offers a new perspective, there is no escaping the fact that we have seen it all before and perhaps the novelty has worn off. We know what the aliens look like (and we see too much of them), how they operate and have seen people trying to stay quiet before so it’s not scary or as gripping.

Despite this, Nyong’o and Quinn both deliver strong, emotional and melancholic performances that ground the thriller in reality. They are joined by Djimon Hounsou, who makes a small appearance as his character from Part II. He doesn’t have much screen time but it was nice to learn more about his story.

All of the human actors are outshone by their feline co-star Frodo, played by cats Schnitzel and Nico. This beautiful and curious cat has a substantial role here and it gives easily the best animal performance of the year.

A Quiet Place: Day One doesn’t recapture the magic of the first film but it’s still an engaging survival thriller.

In cinemas from Friday 28th June.

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