Gonger Reviews: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place (2018)

Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cade Woodward and Leon Rassom as the man in the woods. That's the whole cast list and thank goodness, because writing the cast list is my least favourite part of writing a review. Sometimes I give a movie a bad review just for having too many people in it. So watch out Infinity War! You’ve already upset me!

Synopsis: The world is attacked by, oh, I don’t know, let's do mutant monsters! Yeah, they really don’t say what these things are - unless there's a news paper clipping in a scene I missed? But The Gonger misses nothing! But yeah, mutants terrorize a nice family and the children put everyone at risk by not shutting up! Because the mutants can only hear... Yoooooooo, this would be the best flick to show your kids when they’re acting up! Lock that in parent folk.

Acting: This is minimalism taken to the maximum! A true test of acting talent as there are barely any lines in this movie. The players communicate the tension flawlessly and emote the terror with ease. I never once was taken out of the picture. Blunt and Krasinski pull you into this one by creating a character thriller with no words. Top grade! 2/2

Writing: Well, this one was a nail-biter if anything. I caught myself holding my breath to not make a sound just so our heroes could get out of danger... then clear my throat when I wanted to see some gore. Sadly this flick was lacking in the gore department. It's all about the tension and they hit a home run in that department. The script is kind of a theory in plot development. Bryon Woods succeeds in gripping the audience and taking us on a rollercoaster of dread. The overall story is a bit of a doomsday flick clone though, but that's ok at the end of the day. It merely propels us into the world though it has little to do with the picture as a whole. 1.5/2

Visual Effects: This is a very small part of the film but had a huge impact for the reveal. The creature in this flick looks fantastic and is truly menacing!

Gonger’s Top Five Creatures in a Creature Feature:

1. The Thing - The Thing (1982)

2. Xenomorph - Alien (1979)

3. Creature - Creature From the Black Lagoon 

4. Flukeman - X-Files: The Host, Season two episode two (1994)

5. Seth Brundle - if you're a big shot you’ll tell me! (1986)

As you can see this creature has not made my top five list but its because it really doesn’t terrify me in any way. Those creatures on the list are symbols of some existential horror that we all keep buried below, because at the end of the day, we are the monsters all along. GONGER GETS DEEP!!! This creature has no identity. It just drives the plot and does so effectively. It looks great though, really. It was done by the fine folks at Industrial Light and Magic so it's really no surprise. There was a slight lighting issue though so...HALF A MARK DEDUCTION! 1.5/2

Soundtrack: For a flick like this you really need to hear every little sound as it adds to the dread. Every pin drop should have you pissing yourself. The sound of a buzzing fly should incite pandemonium in the theatre!!! A Quiet Place was not that intense but it comes pretty close. At the end of the day I buy it and that's all you can really ask for. The score has that classic creature feature dynamic which is over the top in delivery and brings the desired atmosphere. There is nothing altogether mind blowing about it but I like it and you should, too! 1.5/2

Directing: Dude! Is John Krasinski the genre director we’ve all been waiting for!? This is a risky flick that could have failed hard but it succeeds in all the right spots! His vision is so tight he turns coal into diamonds just by looking at them! I’d say this flick is an experiment in communicating visual information but in a world concerned only with flash and gloss, its nice to get a over-the-top grounded film. This flick peels back the layers and gives us something honest and for that we thanks you, John! 2/2

8.5/10 I’m just going to say it: if Krasinski follows this up with any thing half as good, he could be the next John Carpenter!  

Allan Stringer @Gonger_Reviews

Allan Stringer (if that's his real name) hails from the Mutara Nebula and has travelled through space and time to check out the only thing us pathetic humans have to offer: movies. Marvel at his intelligence!