3/5 Stars

“A Quiet Place” is directed by and stars John Krasinski (“Detroit”) who, in his non-directorial debut, plays the patriarch of a family living in a New Paltz-esque area who is attempting to survive. Their world has been plagued for the last several years by some sort of unknown creature that hunts and viciously kills based on sound. This forces Krasinski and the rest of his family, portrayed respectively by his actual wife Emily Blunt (“Sherlock Gnomes”), Noah Jupe (“Suburbicon”) and Millicent Simmons (“Wonderstruck”), to remain completely silent for in this world, a single small noise could get them killed instantly.

Reception for this film seemed very split in half, which is usually not a very good sign. Whenever people either love or hate a movie, very rarely is it actually as good or as bad as people say, and this is another example of that. This movie is by no means a masterpiece, and likewise is not a total steaming pile either. It is just simply fine.

The premise is perfectly suitable, and it is not anything new. In fact, a similar premise was delivered just last year with the A24 horror film “It Comes at Night.” The big difference between these two films is while that film completely failed to deliver on the payoff to its out-of-this-world good setup, this film had some pretty decent payoffs with a few awesome action moments. The opening scene in particular wraps up with a moment that comes so out of nowhere that it will completely lock on into the film.

What the film lacks in substance, however, it more than makes up for with technical prowess. Besides this being fantastically well-shot and edited, Krasinski also does a really great job playing around with the sound design, basically perfecting on a technical scale a silent movie in 2018. The sound ebbs in and out depending on the surroundings, and he also makes the very smart decision to make Simmons’ character deaf, as Simmons is deaf in real life, in order to give this an even greater sense of urgency.

In addition, the creatures themselves are absolutely terrifying. They are not in the film that much (another smart decision), but when they show up, it is shown in very small frames at first before they are revealed in their full glory. Because this film actually knows what emphasis to put on CGI, the creatures not only look realistic, but the design is awesome, and it makes their scenes when they attack even more terrifying.

Outside of that, however, the film still feels very laggy and slow. There are a couple dumb moments that simply cannot be forgiven. The characters, despite trying as hard as they can, still make some very stupid decisions (bringing a baby into a dystopian world of any kind is never a good idea), and there are a few action moments that are supposed to have a major emotional impact behind them that just feel laughable. “A Quiet Place” definitely a horror movie that does not necessarily follow the tropes that have become so associated with the genre, but not even close to a masterpiece either.

Image from Paramount Pictures via YouTube.com