A Quiet Place Part II (2021) - Here I Am Already!

 

★★★☆☆

I like the apocalyptic setup in the film just as that in famous video game ‘The Last of Us’, quiet but full of danger, brutal but filled with humanity, bleak but somewhat encouraging. Whether you like the plot is another story. Sometimes I wish where we stay would turn into a quiet place just like that, so we’d be obliged to learn how to appreciate life again, and not to take anything for granted, not even a tiny ant travelling on the ground or a little flower dancing in the wind.

As 2018’s ‘A Quiet Place’ drops us in the aftermath of some kind of alien invasion without any heads up at all, ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ takes us right back to Day 1 to see how it all begins as it opens. But still we’re not told what those alien creatures really are; where they come from; what they are here for; how come they have to wipe out anything that makes sounds. It seems like they’re doing it not because they’re hungry but then what for?; what do they eat?; how do they reproduce?; do they smash and kill other animals too, as you know here on Earth, not just humans that are noisy?

Leaving such questions unanswered, the film continues to tell what our heroine played by Emily Blunt comes across after she loses her husband in the end of ‘Part I’. It’s good to see that the tone of ‘Part II’ stays the same as its predecessor that feels like a melodrama rather than a typical emotionless horror. Of course there’re more jump scares, close-up of the creatures, and scenes of them attacking people madly this time, but don’t worry, it’s not selling gross bloody stuff or special effects after all. Its focus is still on people, their emotions, struggles and sacrifices for what’s needed to survive. Like last time, there’re head-scratching flaws and moves here with the intention of delivering more thrills I guess, but overall it remains quiet, steady and watchable.

‘Part II’ is not the end of the whole journey like expected! I’m not sure if it’ll go on and on or be made a trilogy. It’s got to be the latter for its own sake. While ‘The Last of Us Part II’ is a complete letdown to most of its fans like me, ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ is not so. But I feel like it’s losing its magic and grip bit by bit here already! They’d better wrap it up and give us a good explanation as to what the hell has been going on there in the coming ‘Part III’, if they don’t want the franchise to stink and rot eventually!

Hong Kong, like it or not, is becoming like a quiet place now. It’ll be quieter tomorrow. That’s for sure. Noisemakers will be wiped out till it’s all dead silent and gone! That’s not the quiet place I wish for though. Suppose I have no choice, I’d rather be destroyed by those terrifying aliens from the film than by hypocrites who kill with a smiling face!