31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN: A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE

THE STEP DOWN FOR THE FRANCHISE

I hate to express this but I did not like this movie as much as I wanted to. Did I enjoy the human relationship between Eric and Sammy? Of course, and I think that’s all the movie went out to accomplish was show the growth and connection of a human relationship during impossible times. But outside of that, nothing happened in this movie. Sure the monsters were running around destroying stuff at every sound, but this one did not feel nearly as tense as the other films. The most tense I actually felt was anytime the cat was around a monster or when the car was falling on Sammy. Other than that, I was just waiting for something to happen. Then when I checked the run time, and realized I had 12 minutes left and nothing essentially had happened, I immediately felt the disappointment. Compared to how excellent and thrilling I thought the other two movies were. I don’t mind the change in the direction of the film, but the only thing that felt like a quiet place movie was the monsters and the fact it was quiet.

THE CAT IS THE STAR OF THE SHOW

First off, the cat being named Frodo is sick. That’s the best possible name for a cat you could have. I’m not a cat person, but Frodo was what made me care about this movie. The actually crafted scenes and transitions around the cat. That’s how you know he was a star. Any characters could have died and I would have been like “oh that sucks”, but if the cat was to die I would have lost the movie entirely. Thank God that little guy was quiet!

HUMAN ELEMENT AND BONDS

I do respect that this movie took a step back and wanted to be different. Even if I didn’t enjoy it as much, they went all in on the relationship as friends and survivalist between Eric and Sammy. Did I roll my eyes when she just kept saying she was going to get pizza? Sure did. Even if that was the sense of peace she had at the end of getting pizza from Eric it just was Meh to me overall. Yes she sacrificed her survival for Eric and Frodo to get away, just like the ending in the first movie, which I thought was dumb that it was such a similar concept and ending here. You see their relationship grow from strangers that seem to not mesh at all, to great friends sharing bourbon and pizza and then Eric becomes the owner of Frodo as Sammy knows she doesn’t have long left and would rather pass away where she is comfortable.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I just didn’t enjoy this film like I wanted to. Yes the focus on the human element and relationships was a fine idea and they did it pretty well, but nothing that blew my socks off. Have seen tons of movies that experience a similar concept and does it way better than the pretty basic development we got in this film. It’s the lesser of the three in the franchise in my opinion, it felt like one long scene almost in a short movie compared to the development and ups and downs that we get in the other two films. This film also isn’t nearly as tense as the first two because it retreads a lot of the same tense moments. Hope they leave this franchise to be now, I think they’ve done everything they can.

C. A. ROETHLE