A Quiet Place: Day One brings the intensity of the franchise with new characters in New York City! The first horror film, A Quiet Place (2018), was written and directed by John Krasinski who also starred as the father, Lee Abbott. This led to the sequel, A Quiet Place Part II (2021) which showed day one of the invasion by Death Angels in Millbrook, New York. The Abbott family find a safe place at Norwalk Islands. A Quiet Place: Day One is written and directed by Michael Sarnoski who also did the same for his first film, the drama about a truffle hunter in Pig (2021). Krasinski provided the story for the movie. Lead actor, Lupita Nyong’o, gives an introduction and notes that the audience should be silent!
We open to the skyline of New York City. There is the factoid that the average noise level in New York City is at 90 decibels. Then, we are told that this is the sound of a scream! This shifts to a support group at the Little Firs Hospice Center. They are a quiet group with some elderly patients. There is also Samira, Sam (Nyong’o) in her hospital gown. Nakia in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) was played by Nyong’o and she also provides the voice of the title role in the upcoming animated film, The Wild Robot. The nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff), convinces Sam to read her poem. Wolff was Luis Alvarez in the bio drama, Oppenheimer (2023). She basically insults all of her fellow patients which disturbs Reuben. Sam is surly and just stuck with other patients. There is an alarm and Reuben asks her, “What’s your pain?” Sam lives in constant pain and her only interest is a show in the city. She says she will only go if they get pizza.
Sam goes to her room walking with her cat to feed him and use her MP3 player. She checks the patch on her arm. A bus takes them into the city. Sam sees the city past a cemetary. She smiles as they head into New York City. Sam exits the bus met by Reuben. Jet fighters, unseen, streak overhead. She sees at the theater’s marque that it is a marionette show. In the audience, a boy turns in his seat to look at Sam’s cat, she tells the boy that her cat is named Frodo. An elderly man shuffles out on the stage and a spotlight falls on him. He has a puppet of a man who blows up a balloon. The puppet floats up with the balloon, the kids in the audience are amazed, but the balloon suddenly pops! Sam walks out with Frodo. There is a helicopter overhead. Sam walks into a bodega to buy a candy bar.
A police car races by followed by military Humvees. These are just hints that something major is happening in the ordinary day. Reuben is on the phone and then asks Sam about her pain. She says it is a 3. He says they have to head back and she insists that they have to get pizza. Sam gets angry at Reuben and tells him “You’re not my friend, you’re a nurse.” She boards the bus and puts in her ear pods. The others also enter the bus and then there are blaring alarms and then explosions! They gather to look out of the back of the bus. It looks like comets all from the sky to the streets. A massive explosion with blasts of dust shocks the bus and its passengers. We get Sam staggering on the street. Her face is half-covered in ash. This is disturbing like the people walking out of the clouds in the aftermath of 9/11. Also, there is thick smoke and debris. A man is dragged away! A soldier shouts to Sam, “M’am take cover!” Then, he is pulled up into the smoke!
Four Decibels out of Five!
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