Never trust the marketing department.
Following the surfacing of mysterious blind and vicious predators that hunt by way of their sensitive hearing, “A Quiet Place” depicts the struggles of a man attempts to raise his family along with his wife in a world where absolute silence is a necessity.
Produced by bombastic special effects extraordinaire Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes, there isn’t a single iota of this film’s marketing that hasn’t ostensibly shot itself in the foot via creating false perception of the final product. While the trailers fight almost actively to depict a typical trashy creature feature on a low budget for cheap thrills with a minor gimmick, director and star John Krasinski delivers an unabashed creature feature that is nothing short of a directorial masterpiece even if its top notch polish and impactful flourishes only make it the best version of what it specifically aspires to be.
“A Quiet Place’s” first 10 minutes build up and pay off the first death of the movie in a manner so severe and unflinching that it scars the importance of noise minimization in this world that carries firmly throughout the entire duration and enhances the superb sound design, making every unexpected sound feel like the lethal accident that it always plays out as.
With roughly 70% of the movie virtually playing out as a silent film, the tension remains consistently thick, keeping the atmosphere of the movie all the more engrossing and not only enhancing the terrors of a lethal world featuring two children desperate to explore coming of age boundaries in a situation that can’t allow it and a pregnant woman on the verge of childbirth in an environment that kills off noisemakers but providing subtle insights into their family dynamics.
Krasinski and Emily Blunt lead solidly as parents that understand the need to adapt to a new lifestyle but remain wistful for the sense of peace and normalcy that their children will never grow up with. Special praise to Blunt for selling the pain of child birth unlike any other labor scene put to cinema.
The real find of the movie however is Millicent Simmonds, playing the deaf daughter and eldest child of the family. Deaf in real life, Simmonds was cast by Krasinski add an additional layer of authenticity to the casts constraints of solely communicating via American Sign Language, as well as provide the perspective of somebody that is fundamentally affected by sound in a different matter as called for by the screenplay.
Her knowledge may have substantially benefited the film’s execution but the contribution of her performance and its perfect capture of innocence lost and the consequential pain of lacking communication are the heart of the film and a performance not to be missed.
“A Quiet Place” is one of those rare films that crawls its way above its competition by simply being the apex of itself. Outside of the occasionally emotionally resonant moment between characters, it’s not a particularly deep film. Beyond the somewhat derivative design of the creatures themselves however, which remain nonetheless terrifying, it is a beyond perfect version of the sort of thrilling horror flick with the situational B-movie sensibility that it aims to accomplish.
The film is so perfect at being that and so inventive in executing it that it has somehow made such a safe story concept into a film that is fresh, bold, and even oddly experiemental. If you care about passion and originally in the modern market tested and franchise driven landscape of Hollywood releases, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie.
8 Shushes out of 10
Joining the growing club of surprisingly solid films with pitiful trailers and marketing campaigns, “Blockers” provides a surprisingly insightful and forward thinking perspective to the concept of the teen sex comedy that addresses the issue of budding teenage sexuality with a refreshing honesty that few films in its genre carry.
When three high school seniors that have been best friends for life make a pact to lose their virginities on prom night, their parents, played by Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz and John Cena, set out to prevent their daughters from exploring their sexuality for disturbingly oedipal motivations that set them on an adventure of ensuing hijinks beyond what any rational human being should be going through for anything.
From a stand point of story concept and plot structure, “Blockers” is far from original.
The structure is straight forward from start to finish and intended to optimize the set ups and punch lines of gags and jokes dependent squarely on the shoulders of the cast’s delivery, as well as falling into the trap of occasionally indulging too far into the exaggerated, alienating, audiences, however briefly, that are willing to follow its internal logic and padding the film out about 10 minutes too long or so.
Whatever cracks begin to show in the film’s foundation by the half way point however, are almost completely outshined by its qualities.
“Blockers’” cast carries a chemistry that is frankly staggering. All of the daughters terrifically portray the various aspects of being stuck in the middle ground of a child inching ever so closely into adulthood and self sufficiency, from demystifying society’s weight placed on sex and virginity, to understanding its place in a relationship and even tastefully exploring the nature of sexual identity and gender preference in one’s partner.
Portrayed by Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon, Kathryn Newton, these girls could carry a movie on their own but the stars of the show nevertheless show up to work to deliver excellent performances not only for comedic delivery but to portray solid characters in an exaggerated yet cohesive narrative studying exactly why parents forget the burgeoning adulthood of their children enough to subject themselves to this level of humiliation.
Mann and Barinholtz deliver strongly as parents that identify as parents to intrinsically to let go of that identity and watchful wise guardians that know when their offspring is about to make a mistake that goes against their own nature respectively. The real surprise comes from John Cena who plays against type as an emotional and loving giant teddy bear of a man that only gets aggressive as a measure to defend his loved ones. He has a ways to go before even hitting Dwayne Johnson or Dave Bautista levels of charisma but his potential is definitely there and slowly being actualized.
“Blockers” is unapologetic about the type of movie that it is but it also succeeds in providing perspective, thoughtfulness, and heart along with talented humor that most sex comedies severely lack. It may never pretend to be high brow but it has far more happening under its hood than demanded of it.
8 Lonely Island music videos out of 10
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