‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Review: A Quiet Reflection Among the Noise

Prequels tend to deliver more context to a story that we already know. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga explores how a young girl would rise up to become an Imperator under Immortan Joe. Rogue One follows a group of rebels who plot to steal the plans to the Death Star. These and many prequels are in service to their original films. A Quiet Place: Day One is still in service to the franchise, but it’s focus is not on providing more context to the alien invasion that sent the world into silence as one would expect. Instead, the prequel delivers a separate story of survival set within this world that has been established. Day One is more about the characters and their individual journey rather than answering the ‘how’ or ‘why’ the aliens are here. It’s a quiet reflection among the noise, resulting in one of the best film prequels in recent memory.

Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) has terminal cancer and spends her remaining days in a hospice outside of New York City alongside others who are dying as well. Sam mostly spends her time with her cat Frodo but Reuben (Alex Wolff), a care worker in charge of the place, convinces her to join him and the others to venture into the city for a show with the promise of pizza afterwards. Their trip is cut short, however, when strange meteors begin raining down all over the city and horrendous alien creatures emerge from the rubble, killing everyone who makes even the slightest sound. Sam finds herself running for her life amid the chaos around her and forms an unlikely partnership with Eric (Joseph Quinn), an English law student who is lost with nowhere to go. Together they navigate the destroyed city and rely on each other to survive this alien invasion for as long as they can.

A Quiet Place: Day One is about finding a reason to live. At the beginning of the film, Sam has all but given up on life. She’s terminally ill and in constant pain so she there isn’t much she cares about aside from Frodo and having one last real pizza, as she says to Reuben. It’s only when the invasion occurs and she sees the horrors of these creatures who hunt by sound does she realize that her life is worth living, even if she doesn’t have much time left. Director Michael Sarnoski, who also directed the wonderfully intimate Pig, centers the focus on her and her journey of survival. Her fight is no longer just an internal struggle against a unseen disease. Now every footstep, every breath, could potentially be her last should she make a wrong move. There is a greater appreciation as well. She could give up at any point, after all, she’s going to die regardless whether or not an alien creature gets her, but she continues to push on. And her goal isn’t to reach safety or find a way to kill the aliens. No, she just wants to have the pizza she was promised. There’s a beauty to the simplicity in her quest, and it grounds the film to its characters.

Lupita Nyong’o is phenomenal as Sam. There is little dialogue so the majority of her performance comes from her facial expressions. The shock and fear she displays with just her eyes is captivating. She is able to say so much without saying a word. Joseph Quinn is equally entertaining. When Sam first meets Eric he’s essentially in a state of shock and cannot act rationally. He’s like a puppy who follows her around, and even though she is initially reluctant to his presence, the two quickly become close. Despite the chaos around them, there are charming moments of intimacy in which two people can find a moment of respite. Whereas prequels tend to go big and do more, A Quiet Place: Day One brings everything closer to the chest.

That being said, if you’re expecting to learn more about the aliens from A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II, Day One is unfortunately not that type of film. Nothing new is shown that we don’t already know. Society figures out pretty quickly that the aliens are blind and hunt only by sound and that they’re afraid of water. From then on it’s just about staying as quiet as possible to minimize the casualties. There isn’t much else in terms of exposition on the creatures. There’s a scene where they’re feeding on these egg-like sacs but no context is given. A Quiet Place: Day One doesn’t provide any further insight into the other films. What it does do is show another story about survival and the resilience of humanity.

A Quiet Place: Day One is a great addition to the franchise. It’s driven by emotion; it’s intimate, scary, heartwarming, and loving. It’s a reminder of what we are fighting for when we come face to face with death, whether that’s something like cancer or an alien monster. Day One cuts through the noise to deliver a film with a lot of humanity.