A Quiet Place: Day One (#570)


As I was leaving the theater today, i remarked to a middle aged couple also leaving, "could they make it any worse?"  To which they replied laughing, "we've seen worse!"  It had one thing in common with the grand film I saw yesterday—there were basically only two characters.  But yesterday the two spoke almost constantly for 1 hour and 41 minutes; in the 1 hour and 40 minutes of A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE, there was virtually no dialogue (I think I could count the number of lines of dialogue on my fingers) and some of it was indecipherable whispering. I did not know, until I got home and did a little research, that this movie was supposed to be a prequel to the two films from a couple of years ago directed by John Krasinski and starring Emily Blunt.  I recall that I liked them quite a bit.  I envision the producers going to Krasinski and saying how would you like.to do the prequel to which he responds after reading the treatment or the script. "you've got to be kidding" or harsher words to that effect.  It is not a quiet film by any stretch of the imagination; the jolting and jarring noises awakened me from welcome naps again and again.  With no one from the original films, this one features a black woman patient in a suburban facility who is taken by a white male nurse into the city to see a show.  She will only go, she insists, if they get pizza afterward and that also must be in the city.  As they are leaving the theater, they are ordered to evacuate because the city is being besieged (explosions and devastation everywhere, but you are unable to discern who or what is besieging until nearly the end of the movie).  This one is noisy and dark and mostly takes place underground in equally dark surroundings.  I found the movie pointless, boring and dull, and I didn't see anything that made me believe the actors did a brilliant job.  And, to add insult to injury, the woman is carrying a cat which appears and disappears at will and in the end becomes the most important part of this ridiculous movie.  Sorry, I just didn't get it.  I'm certain one or more of my grandchildren will chide me for missing the point.  84% of critics and 71% of audiences liked this one.  Amazing!!

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