A Quiet Place: Tag Eins

Der Angriff auf New York am Anfang hätte sich der Wirkung der Exposition von Spielbergs Krieg der Welten zumindest annähern können. Dies anzustreben würde ich als selbstverständliches Ziel der Filmemacher betrachten. Und er wurde nachlässig durch ein paar Aufnahmen von Menschen gemacht, die in den Staubwolken der verwüsteten Straßen Manhattans verschwinden. Diese, zusammen mit den trostlosen Interieurs verlassener Gebäude, schaffen eine solide düstere Katastrophen-Atmosphäre. Der Film ist an manchen Stellen spannend, aber ohne Handlungsideen und Kameratricks, die die beiden vorherigen Teile der Reihe interessant machten. Lupita Nyong’o kämpft um ihr Leben, aber die interessanteste Figur ist ihre Katze. Vorsichtige Katzenblicke und das sichere leise Gehen passen schön in das Konzept der Geschichte und des Zuschauererlebnisses. (14.07.2024)

A woman, her scuba-diver cat, and a dog from Kent with sad eyes go to get pizza in Harlem amidst an invasion of blind aliens. An unexpectedly intimate New York stage that sought to draw from the famous play "Children of Men," with an all-pervading silent desire not to leave, which might excuse the growing sentimentality. Sam's yellow sweater and her dusty face hinted that it could also be read a bit differently ("Dust Lady" Marcy Borders, 9/11). It’s a shame that the final shot, with that extra second, underestimated the audience’s insight. (30.07.2024)

I'm not a huge fan of this series and somehow trying to make it a genre revelation seems a bit ridiculous. It's like an attempt by people who have seen like four horror movies in their lifetime. The concept of "keep quiet and don't kick anything or we'll get eaten" wore off about halfway through the first film, and the second one was OK mostly because of the actors, but overall I feel like this series has overstayed its welcome since the end credits of the first one. And that's the feeling I get this time around. Day One, at least formally, doesn't really move anything forward. The scares and horror scenes are based on the same old ideas, but because we've known the ideas for so long (not that they're exactly brilliant), it's not scary at all. You just know what's going to happen in such-and-such a scene, and that after a minute of careful walking and whispering, someone's going to get pushed and the monsters are going to eat someone. But extra points won't be given out for the new stuff either. I appreciate the effort to try and plant unheralded heroes in a trite world, and the leading duo are very capable actors, but unfortunately, the combination of horror and moving melodrama doesn't really work. We don't know the heroes. We don't care about them and we don't care what happens to them. Whatever it is. Well, what happens to them is ultimately rendered so melodramatically that it comes across as ridiculous. A pointless film that adds nothing to a franchise that has already missed the moment when it could have ended with dignity. Or move on to somewhere else. Somewhere much further, because this is going nowhere. (27.06.2024)

An embarrassing demonstration that this franchise is exhausted and has nowhere to go. If it was the same genre-bending in atmosphere and overall approach as, say, 10 Cloverfield Lane, I would be very satisfied and it would make sense to me. This, however, is a variation of things already seen many times, and moreover, from the first film onwards, with the feeling that the whole thing doesn’t make sense, because sometimes the aliens react to, for example, the imperceptible sound of a shirt being torn, and other times the main characters produce much more significant sound stimuli. The whole premise just stands on feet of clay. I appreciate that the film isn't trying to be some sort of War of the Worlds where space creatures are mowing people down by the hundreds, and rather there's a focus on two people who are just trying to survive and can't somehow actively defend themselves, but that can be told in one film, there’s no need to use the same teabag three times. And the cat here is just sci-fi within sci-fi, this territorial animal that always looks down on humans acts like a dog, walks beside you without a leash and returns to its owner like a hunting dog. Nonsense. (15.08.2024)

I'm sorry but this is pretty weak. The first two episodes are great adrenaline and nerve-wracking rides, but what worked there doesn't work here at all. The change of director is very much felt, you can also feel the change of the main characters, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy are better actors than Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn (who is a dork). Visually it's still great, the monsters are great again but the awkward atmosphere of going from silence to extreme volume is low, and maybe only one jump-scare? There's no downright memorable scene like the birth from the first film or the bear trap from the second, I was kind of hoping for a more global and epic take on that world and it's just a melodrama about two people who don't really talk just stare at each other for more than half the movie. There's no story, there's almost no dialogue, I missed the interesting rules that were dealt with last time, there's just nothing here. When the monsters aren't exactly on screen (and they really aren't very often), it's a pretty yawn-inducing borefest where somewhere towards the end I thought it might be over by now, and please, the movie is only 90 minutes long. What also annoyed me was that nobody really screams, there's no proper confrontation with the monsters. They all just run away stupidly. MEH and the fact that the cat doesn't even meow or growl once, I didn't understand why either. Weaker than average. I'm leaving the cinema after a long time feeling like it wasn't worth the money. Three stars really just to respect the franchise and that not many of these monster movies are made, but emotionally I'm definitely more on two. 5/10. (28.06.2024)