A Quiet Place Review

A Quiet Place is a good horror movie. It is a good thriller. It does not transcend any boundaries
of genre or revive a forgotten love or bring new light to anything. But it is good.

I saw this movie on Friday the 13th for extra spookiness. I was a little worried it would be too scary
for me but, given its PG-13 rating and the information of various reviews, I concluded that I would be
okay.

A Quiet Place takes place in a world full of monsters that, if they can hear you, they can hunt you, so

you must be as quiet as possible. It opens brutally and continues with suspense that isn’t too bad, with
various jump scares interspersed throughout. It was scary, but not that scary. After I left the theater I
was not constantly checking over my shoulder or believing that I was in danger, which usually happens
after horror movies. There are movies that stick with you and movies that the experience stays in the
theater. Both are valid, in different occasions. I'm happy to report that this one is the latter.

Because most of the movie is very, very quiet, with not even music to ease the tension, the audience
you see it with is an important factor. I saw it in a crowded theater. Towards the beginning there were
people talking and eating and coughing and sneezing but, at some part during the middle, it all ceased.
The theater became terrified to make a sound. At some jump scares people would yelp before hurriedly
cutting themselves off. This added to the tension because you wanted to make sure everyone was quiet
while also wanting to scream yourself.

I have to say the best thing about this movie is it's runtime. It's only an hour and 35 minutes, and
every single minute is put to good use. It felt long enough but not too long. I didn't feel like it was missing
anything or that anything was unnecessary. I never got bored and even now I'm unable to judge what
was the beginning, middle, and end because it all felt so continuous and fluid. After I saw the movie,
the people I saw it with expressed confusion on why they did not show where they came from. I,
however, don't mind that they didn't delve into that. It would've distracted from the story of the family
that we've focused on, and they would've had to take down the mothership or something else completely
unnecessary that would've added unneeded time and energy to the movie.

The idea is creative and original. It is pulled off well by people who clearly care about the story.
Every performance fits well together and within the limits of the movie. You care about the characters
almost inherently, but that is built upon in ways that feel natural and not forced.

The cinematography is gorgeous. It makes ample use of lens flares and every shot seems to convey
something. As the mood changes, the lighting, angles, and zoom do too in a way that doesn't contradict
anything else going on. They work together to get the message across. I've heard a criticism of a movie,
"it was too beautiful I couldn't focus on what was going on." This movie certainly does not fall victim to
that. It fits together almost melodiously.

The ending comes soon enough and is sharp and perfect. I wasn't yelling at any of the characters
for being so stupid. The theater actually broke out into applause at the ending because tied everything
up in a nice bow without being too much of stretch.

This movie is good. It's fun to see. It is not revolutionary. It is original and it displays a large crowd
of people's skills very well.