Reviewing "A Quiet Place Part II": A well-done, worthy horror sequel

**Due to its nature as a sequel, this review will contain some spoilers regarding the first film. Do not read this review if you have not seen the first film.

A Quiet Place Part II is directed and written by John Krasinski once again, and again follows the Abbott family as they fight to survive against alien monsters who hunt by sound.  Once again, it stars Emily Blunt as Evelyn, Millicent Simmonds as Regan, and Noah Jupe as Marcus, with the brilliant addition of Cillian Murphy as the family's friend Emmett.

The film starts with an unbelievably tense Day 1 sequence showing the events on the day that the aliens first arrived on Earth. There is a sense of dread even as the film starts and we see the Abbotts going about their day, just normal and blissfully oblivious to the oncoming danger, whereas us as the audience understand that aliens will soon begin to arrive and cause havoc. The Day 1 events include several intense scenes of the terrified townsfolk attempting to hide from the monsters, only to make noise and alert the monsters to their presence, leading to their deaths. This film has a lot more frantic action than the first, and nowhere is this more evident than in the terrific scene where Evelyn drives a car backwards while an out-of-control bus lurches towards the car or the scene where Regan and Lee sprint away from a rampaging monster. The Day 1 scenes give a more in-your-face monster-chasing-you-down brand of horror, but it works because you understand the characters and connect with how terrified they must be when they are attacked out of nowhere by the monsters, who are still every bit as terrifying as they were in the first film.

Throughout the rest of the movie, there is a lot more action than the first film ever did, though much like the first film, the scenes where the protagonists interact with each other and talk about why they want to go on a certain journey are the focus. Sure, there are monsters, but the scenes where they attack only work because you care about the characters caught up in the attack. This film is on a larger scale than the previous one, not being confined to the Abbott family home, and it gives a glimpse at the wider world affected by the alien attacks. The pacing is similarly on-point, with every scene feeling just right, enough to convey exactly what it needs to do without going on too long, which may be due to the 97-minute runtime (7 minutes longer than the first one) keeping everything going at a nice, brisk pace.

A new addition in this film is Emmett, Cillian Murphy's character who is a more cynical survivor, and his interactions with Evelyn and later Regan is a big part of the movie. Everyone gave good performances, but the dynamic between Murphy's Emmett and Millicent Simmonds's Regan is definitely the core of the film, and serves as a wonderful showcase of Simmonds's talent as a actor, with her character being given a lot more to do and taking a lot more initiative throghout the story. Once again, Regan is a very vulnerable character because of her deafness, but we get to see how she manages to survive in moments when she is alone and fending for herself, and see her evolve into a stronger character, casting aside her vulnerability fully despite her disability putting her at a disadvantage, while also helping Emmett grow out of his cynical ways. Again, Regan's character and Simmonds's performance can doubtlessly serve as an inspiration to many people with disabilities and as a big step in representing deafness in film.

All in all, A Quiet Place Part II is an excellent horror film and horror sequel, successfully expanding the world overrun by alien monsters, with more great performances, especially from Murphy and Simmonds, great writing, and a plot filled with tension and appropriately scary moments.

Score: 10/10