As its name suggests, A Quiet Place: Day One takes place on the first day of the Quiet Place’s alien invasion. The film centers on terminally ill Sam (Lupita Nyong’o, Black Panther), who has resigned to dying and has stopped trying to enjoy life while she still can. Enticed by a promise of pizza, she joins a field trip with her hospice group to Manhattan. For whatever reason, she brings her cat. (Based on what I learned about cats and aliens on “Alf,” I didn’t like the cat's chances.) While in Manhattan, objects start falling from the sky. Unsurprisingly, those objects are the aliens.
Like Jason Voorhees before them, the aliens start destroying Manhattan and killing people. Rather than flee, Sam decides that she will try to make it to Harlem for one last slice of pizza before dying. She meets Eric (Joseph Quinn, "Stranger Things"), who decides that joining her and her cat to get pizza is a good idea. During their journey, Sam learns to feel alive again.
Mild spoilers in this paragraph: A Quite Place: Day One doesn’t add anything to the alien’s mythology. Although it’s the aliens' first day on Earth, everyone inexplicably already knows the aliens hunt by sound alone -- there’s no learning curve; they already know. It would have been interesting to watch the discovery. People somehow know there’s no fear of being seen while using flashlights in dark places. How do they know that? No idea. How did the governments first learn something was heading to Earth? No idea. How did they prepare for the invasion? No idea. When the aliens landed, military helicopters had already been dispatched to warn residents the aliens were dangerous. The government blows up the bridges around Manhattan to trap the aliens. Why? The aliens landed all over the world; trapping some on Manhattan wouldn’t accomplish anything. How did the government know the aliens wouldn’t go in the water? Was that based on watching Signs?
This isn’t a bad movie but it is forgettable. It’s not as good as the original nor is it even as suspenseful as the first sequel. Day One could have been more interesting and built some mythology but that opportunity was wasted. Bottom line: this film wasn’t needed.
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