A Quiet Place

John Krasinski's A Quiet Place mostly deserves its critical and box office success. Carnivorous arachnoid creatures have descended upon Earth and decimated the human population. The creatures are blind, but hunt their prey with their sensitive hearing. Krasinski and his real life missus, the talented Emily Blunt, play man and wife and they and their brood represent the dwindling hope of humanity. Isolated on a farm, they exemplify American ingenuity in thwarting the alien threat. Their talents are put to use minimizing noise by spreading sand on footpaths, soundproofing rooms and crafting soft Monopoly figures. When tragedy strikes, the family must overcome feelings of guilt and hopelessness. It is this portrait of a family under stress that rings true and raises this film above most run of the mill, CGI dependent, Sci-Fi horror.

Krasinski's workmanlike direction won't send me back to his earlier features, but A Quiet Place's least interesting aspect are its mechanistic thrills and chills. One scene of suspense is as old as A Corner in Wheat. These scenes are laid out rotely as in so many films after Alien where a hideous alien menaces a dwindling crew. Rather, it is Krasinski's focusing on the bric a brac of his protagonists' lives that brings the family and the threat to them to life. There is an element of survivalist chic to the film's shots of canned fruits and vegetables, bountiful paleo meals, and reconstituted gadgets. It is these gadgets that are the family's ultimate means of survival. Krasinski grounds his family's resilience in their work habits and attention to detail. When a newborn arrives, the family is prepared for the noisy newcomer and all the havoc his presence creates.

What brings the film home in its brisk running time are the top notch performances. Of the children, the standout is Millicent Simmonds as a deaf teen whose disability proves a boon. Blunt who has proven she can pump a shotgun or fill a petticoat with equal aplomb, provides solid value here as a loving and badass mom. Krasinski, a dadass adept at light comedy, gives a nice study in underplaying stoic heroism. It is damning with faint praise, but A Quiet Place is the finest American movie release of 2018 thus far. (7/15/18)