A Quiet Place: Day One expands on the world that director and actor John Krasinski has built with his team in the first two films. Acting as a prequel to the 2018 horror movie, this new chapter showcases the first signs of an alien attack that has left the world how it was in the first and second installments of the franchise. The new film does do some world-building to explore the chaos that ensued with these alien creatures that only attack through sound. It also gives audiences a more human story to connect with as the movie introduces two new protagonists who survive in a world they barely recognize. Taking place in New York City, director Michael Sarnoski creates a story that builds tension while becoming emotionally invested in these characters who are only trying to survive in this dire situation where danger lurks in every corner.
Day One takes audiences back to the beginning as they follow the alien invasion through the eyes of cancer patient Sam (Lupita Nyong’o). With not many days left in her lifetime, Sam is at the center of this story as she tries to stay alive with her service cat Frodo in the city after the echolocating aliens arrive on Earth and attack anyone who makes a sound. Being that New York City is full of noise everywhere one goes, it raises the stakes for our main character as she attempts to outrun these extraterrestrial creatures. Her journey through the Big Apple connects her with Eric (Joseph Quinn), a law student who isn’t familiar with the city as he sticks with Sam to find a safe place for cover. What these two people face together will forever change them as the city becomes more threatening at every turn.
The new film follows some of the same ingredients from the other Quiet Place films but is just a little more seamless. These huge and fast creatures are lured by sound and attack their prey just by noise. The people in the city figure out pretty quickly how to avoid getting killed by them through trial and error so it avoids explaining to the audience how they figured it out. The movie takes place at the start of the invasion, so no one has experience in killing these aliens to elevate the pulse-pounding action to see everyone attempting to survive their first encounter with them. Just like a big storm, the death toll starts to rise as everyone tries to escape the city without getting killed.
New York might just be the perfect setting for a prequel like this where it’s the most dangerous place for an alien invasion to happen. The film even opens up with an explanation of how much noise pollution is heard on average, which interestingly is the same as a common scream. Once the city becomes ground zero for an alien infestation, director Sarnoski makes sure that in an environment such as this, no one is safe as our characters are uncertain of what comes next for them in this horrific reality that has laid upon them. The city itself is shown through these landscapes and set pieces that Sarnoski has set to create something that can bloom a world crisis into something extraordinary. In a sense, it is how people react in situations like this where they hold on to what memories they have left before the attack and rely on others to stay alive.
Seeing many of the city’s landmarks getting destroyed either by the creatures or armed forces is given that spectacular cinematography like a war movie. There’s so much emotional weight when it comes to bringing two people together and seeing how they would react to an experience like this. Despite everything being destroyed right in front of her eyes, Sam is determined to fulfill one last thing before she dies, which is a slice of pizza. No matter how silly this sounds, there is a deeper meaning behind this journey that Sam takes as she and Eric make their way to Harlem. It has nothing to do with just survival, but it is more on the emotional state that Sam is in knowing that she doesn’t have very long to live. If she wishes to die on her terms, then this is her way of spending that time no matter how dangerous it becomes for her.
In parallel, Eric goes on a journey of his own as he is set on a path before the invasion that was all laid out to him. However, he loses his sense of direction after narrowly surviving an alien invasion. It is with Sam that Eric develops a human connection with her as well as her cat Frodo who becomes their emotional support animal through all this. There are enough justifications that our characters face to help push the story forward. They also meet other characters along the way, including a familiar face from the previous film as Djimon Hounsou reprises his role as Henri, showing where he was before audiences met him in A Quiet Place: Part II. There’s not enough time spent on him and his origins, but it doesn’t take away from the experience that the story showcases of how survival brings these people together during a disaster.
In the Quiet Place films, the action mostly takes place when these characters attempt to escape these alien creatures without the use of any sound. This is one of those rare cinematic experiences where silence is what makes these movies so intense and on the edge of everyone’s seat when a noise occurs onscreen. Even when everything is going from bad to worse, these characters have to learn to suppress their emotions to survive. Both Lupita and Joseph masterfully use their facial expressions and inside voices in their performances that require almost little to no dialogue. Even when there’s some downtime in the film, they share some sweet moments as they interact with one another and find comfort in each other’s company.
A Quiet Place: Day One is an outstanding chapter in this growing franchise that continues to evolve with its world-building and storytelling by showing the journey of two strangers who find emotional support in one another. It’s not just a film on survival, but it’s also about the strong bond these two people share in a world that is falling apart knowing there is no returning to normal. The film gives a powerful theme of finding joy within the chaos and keeps going until one finds that happiness. This sci-fi flick has that human touch that somehow Sarnoski has tapped into that will resonate with audiences as one of the best entries in the franchise.
A Quiet Place: Day One is now playing in theaters.
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