Quick Review: A Quiet Place

I know the movie is a thousand years old by now, but I wanted to get something up this week. I’ll have an in-depth comics related article up by next week, but for now my thoughts on last month’s event film, A Quiet Place…

The Abbott family lives on a secluded farm in complete silence, for reasons that only become clear once the story starts to reveal itself. They communicate by signing to each other and live in constant terror of making any sound; until the day Mrs. Abbott becomes pregnant and is about to deliver child. The movie was very original and a very, very cool idea. I liked it a lot. John Krasinski plays Mr. Abbott, as well as directing the film, and his real life wife, Emily Blunt, plays his filmic spouse as well. The movie was just plain INTENSE. The scares are actually genuine, and it was really thrilling in a way so few other horror movies are, hence why so many just give up and default to comedy. It was pretty damn suspenseful and the jumps were earned, coming organically from the story as the relatively simple plot just gives way to one horrifying turn after another. I really liked the “gimmick,” which is that the entire movie is largely silent with no spoken dialogue, with of course a couple notable exceptions. My only complaint is that it was too short, and easily could’ve gone on another half hour; and that we might’ve benefited from seeing some more of the world they live in, lest the audience suspect we’re diverting into M. Night Shyamalan “They’re making it all up!” twist territory. But all around, very good and spooky in a classic sense, which too few modern movies are. Sorry, but Get Out was not “scary”.

I admit, it was hard seeing Krasinski as anything other than Jim Halpert for awhile, but he’s finally coming into his own as an actor, and no longer is the butt of jokes about how Pam should play his wife in every movie he’s in, etc. (Although was it just me, or did the family home remind anyone very strongly of Dwight Schrute’s beat farm?) He does great work, both in front of and behind the camera, giving his best screen performance by far as the resourceful and science-minded Pa Abbott. Emily Blunt was a joy to watch as Mother Abbott, emoting many difficult scenes very well with absolutely no dialogue, such as the terrifying childbirth scene.

The real highlight though, was the young deaf actress Millie Simmonds as the Abbott daughter, who unlike everyone else has zero dialogue, but is able to nonetheless convey an entire character arc. She runs a gamut of emotions from childlike rebelliousness, to supreme guilt, to abject terror, to finally acceptance. A trivia factoid says that she was, in fact, the one who suggested Krasinski add THE pivotal line to the movie- mild spoilers- the last line Abbott signs to his daughter near the end. It was scripted as just “I love you,” but apparently she made him add the second part, which absolutely makes the entire scene and takes it into something compelling and poignant. It pays off the movie in a way that reminds me of how Man of Steel didn’t, where in a similar circumstance, Clark has to let Jonathan Kent get blown away by the tornado to “prove” he loves him, and Kevin Costner does absolutely nothing to relieve his son of the torment this will no doubt cause him. We the audience know Abbott loves his daughter and doesn’t blame her for anything that happened… but he has to make absolutely sure SHE knows that, and the emotion in Krasinski’s face just sells it.

And finally, since there are only really the main four actors in the film, young Noah Jupe also does good work as Son Abbott (give me a break, they never call each other by their names in the movie itself), the family’s anxiety-ridden fraidy cat child. I thought it was really interesting, and the correct choice, to have the son be scared of everything rather than “Alpha child who farts in his sister’s face” that nearly every other movie family has. It makes the drama more compelling as Father Abbott really can’t rely on his kids to necessarily follow through in moments of peril; as opposed to, say, Tom Cruise’s stupid son in War of the Worlds who charges into battle against the Cruisester’s wishes, because he’s a red-blooded American boy, damnit! By making the kids more like Bobby Hill in terms of their action scenes, it raises the stakes a bit.

I have seen the suggestion that real-life couple Krasinski and Blunt should now take on the roles of Reed and Sue Richards in a Marvel Studios reboot of Fantastic Four… and I agree. It HAS to be them. For one reason, they’re one of the few actual (seemingly) stable couples in show business, and I’m convinced at least half of the FF should be a real family, if for no other reason than to differentiate it from the other versions. Let’s face it, did Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd have any chemistry whatsoever? Miles Teller and Kate Mara somehow had less, unbelievably. But in the comics you just kind of buy them as a family unit, and I think the movie needs to replicate that. At least The Incredibles are animated to look alike. I’m afraid about who they’ll cast as Johnny Storm, as they have the unenviable task of getting an actor who not only believably appears to be Sue’s brother (unless they give up and make the siblings from different ethnicities again, I guess), but also is a cocky jackass without turning the audience off. And they failed on that front, twice! I guess they could just have Chris Evans come back as the Torch when he’s done playing Cap? With Michael Chiklis back as The Thing!

For awhile I thought Reed had to be played by someone like George Clooney, but maybe one comic franchise was enough for him, seeing as how he’s gone Full Looney Tunes in the last few, uh, decades. I’ve heard Jon Hamm as a suggestion, and he’s certainly old enough, but he’s somehow too “manly;” by the same token, Reed can’t be a complete geekwad either, as his character is sort of the contrast between super genius nerd and complete self-confidence. Krasinski would weirdly be perfect, ditto for Blunt as Sue. She would just fit into the role like a glove. To be blunt. I’m at a loss for the other parts though. Maybe they SHOULD just do an all-Office version of FF: Jim and Pam as Reed/Sue, Ryan as the Torch, Michael Scott as The Thing (“Ben, it appears I can now stretch any part of my anatomy!” “That’s what SHE said!”). Dwight as Doom of course, after Reed played a prank on him in the office and destroyed his beautiful, beautiful Schrute face. Toby as The Puppet Master. Kevin as Galactus. Phyllis as Agatha Harkness. And in his most daring cameo yet, Cranky Stan Lee as Kranky Jack Kirby, complete with a green cigar and pants up to his nipples. Okay, I’m done now. And that’s what she said.

Next time, back to the comics and genre talk, lest I resort to reviewing movies that have basically nothing to do even tangentially with the geek pop culture. I’ll throw in the towel when I start pumping out items about The Greatest Showman (But in case you were wondering, I found it to be crap- the latest in a long line of Hugh Jackman’s musical wankery projects, where he looks starry-eyed and crafts a movie around his own singing and prancing). Avante!