A Quiet Place is a 2018 movie directed by John Krasinski. It takes place in a post apocalyptic world, where few humans are left. From the very beginning, the movie does something brilliant; it avoids going into detail of how this world came to be. Instead of wasting too much time introducing the reason civilization fell, or how the main characters survived. A Quiet Place wastes no more than forty five seconds, to establish its setting. It shows images of empty streets, destroyed infrastructure, and “Missing” people posters. That is enough for the audience to create an idea of the setting and even works for the better, creating suspense for the cause of this emptiness to be revealed.

The story follows the Abbott family, the last remaining family in town, who are doing their best to survive. They have one rule that never must be broken: “Don’t make a sound!” The consequences to making a sound are shown in the beginning. One day, the youngest child, Beau, about five years old, is attracted by an electronic airplane toy in a shopping mall as the Abbotts are picking up medicine. He asks his father(Lee played by John Krasinski) if he can have it, and is denied that right, because it might turn on and make noise. However, as soon as Lee leaves, his sister, the eldest child, Reagan (Millicent Simmonds) gives it to him and signs him to be quiet. They head back home and on the way, Beau stops, turns on the airplane, and starts to play with it. The airplane makes a loud noise. The father runs to grab him, but before he can reach the boy, a monster jumps out of nowhere and gets him. We never see him again. That is why the family is constantly tip toeing and using sign language to communicate. This is a good move from a narrative point of view. Firstly, the audience doesn’t know why they are being so quiet, but they understand that something bad will happen if noise is made. It creates an intense atmosphere, with the suspense of “Will someone make a sound?” which continues during the whole movie, and prevents it from becoming boring. The monster is revealed in the most horrific way, which helps the viewers understand how terrifying it is and furtherly adding on the suspense. It’s not a realistic creature. It walks on four long legs. It has a skin resembling a lizard, a head resembling the monster from Stranger things, and it lets out a screech like a velociraptor of Jurassic Park.

It revealed that Reagan is deaf and that she uses cochlear implants, that help her hear. Cochlear implants are devices, deaf people use to help them hear things. It sends signals to the brain which the brain recognizes as sound. Lee was trying to create a functioning one and kept failing, while Reagan had lost hope. But Lee didn’t give up. One day, as Lee, Reagan and the other brother, Marcus are away, the mother feels her baby about to be born. However, a monster had entered the house. Now, more than ever she must stay quiet. She moves away slowly, and climbs up in the second floor. She goes into the bathtub, and in immense pain, gives birth to the baby, still not letting out a single sound. The bathtub fills with blood, and the audience has goosebumps. This scene alone should be enough to make the movie worthy to watch. Memorable and terrifying at the same time, it shows the strength of a mother; Everlyn, who overcomes the pain of giving birth with her willpower alone so that she can protect her baby. Emily Blunt, who plays Evelyn gives an excellent performance, making everything feel so real. Her expressions of pain make the pain seem realistic, and make the audience feel the intense atmosphere in their bones.

Another memorable scene is when Lee sacrifices himself to save the kids from a monster. Lee makes a decision to sacrifice himself to attract the monster away. While he is saying goodbye, Reagan, in tears opens up to him. In sign language she shows Lee, how much she loved him. Lee uses three last hand movements: “I love you!” before screaming and being attacked by the monster. It’s another moment where you feel for the characters. It is beautiful, because it displays the powerful theme that love isn’t bound by words. Lee doesn’t need to state his love, he shows it through his actions. The movie had been building their relationship this far, only so this moment would have more impact, and it worked. By showing how hard Lee was trying to make a functioning cochlear implant so Reagan could hear, you believed in the father-daughter relationship   Simmonds and Krasinski had created

The family has no time to grieve as another monster has entered the house. The monster comes down to the basement where they are hiding. In the end, it is Evelyn who kills it. She points a shotgun at its head, waited for it to come closer and took the shot without flinching. What’s amazing, is how they took the character of Evelyn, who was till now was depending on her husband, and turn her into an empowered character. This leaves the viewer wondering how the family will continue under this badass matriarch.  

The movie was exemplary. It had original ideas and proved spine tingling without using too many cliches. It doesn’t use jumpscares, or irritating soundtracks to give the audience chills; in fact for most of the movie, there was no background music. It makes the movie special with absolute silence. Its intense atmosphere is probably the greatest achievement. It’s impossible to relax, until the movie is over. The performance from the cast was exceptional, Emily Blunt did a wonderful job; alone, making the bathtub scene one of the best in the movie. Few actors or actresses can make pain seem so real. Meanwhile Simmonds and Krasinski built a beautiful father-daughter relationship, which could make you forget they’re not real father and daughter. Showing that love cannot be bound by words through a deaf character was a smart move. A movie like A Quiet Place is hard to come across, and I hope more people can notice that.