Why they’re here and what they plan to do is never spelled out. They’re a monstrous alien race that has invaded Earth and is systematically wiping out every last human they can hunt down. They can’t see, and they can’t swim—considering that the planet they just invaded is three-quarters water, isn’t to their advantage—and they seem to possess no technology beyond whatever got them here. None of that matters to the inhabitants of Earth: They just want to stay alive. And to do that, they’ll have to be very, very quiet.

One of the aspects that made 2019’s A Quiet Place work was the leanness of information. The monsters are a threat and the survivors have devised a clever system of staying alive and starting over. It’s a doomsday-pepper’s wet dream that doesn’t point the finger at any one political party or natural disaster. No wonder it became a hit, spawning the sequel A Quiet Place Part II in 2021 and now the prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One.

Set on the day of the invasion—and about two nights and three days after—Day One follows Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminal cancer patient living in hospice care outside New York City, her cat, Frodo, and a revolving door of characters: hospice nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff), fellow theater-goer Henri (Djimon Hounsou), an English law-student Eric (Joseph Quinn). There are others, but once the attack starts, there’s not a lot of time for chatter.

You would think that murderous aliens with super-sensitivity to noise would be humanity’s greatest weakness, but the survivors figure out that the aliens are attracted to sound pretty quickly. Forget that they are New Yorkers, some of the most beautifully vocal humans you’ll ever find in one of the loudest cities on the planet. So when you see thousands of them walking silently through the streets, your suspension of disbelief might be taxed. That is, if you can make it through the movie believing that the cat makes nary a peep through all of this hullabaloo. My cat meows at me for 30 minutes straight before dinnertime. This cat goes through hell and back and asks for more.

There are other things to nitpick, but like A Quiet Place II, none of it really amounts to anything. It just keeps your mind busy during the downtime. Each interaction with the aliens is pretty much the same. The humans cover their mouths and try to stay silent while scared shitless as the aliens destroy and screech.

Writer-director Michael Sarnoski, his first time under the franchise, tries to add more by filling out the lives of Samira and Eric. She is a poet, and her father was a Harlem pianist. Eric is in law school, probably to please his parents, but he really comes alive when he shows Samira a magic trick. They’re both nice people, and they work well together. Does any of this help them in their quest for safety? No, but it does make them feel like real people in an unreal situation. That’s enough for a Hollywood blockbuster, I suppose.

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
Directed by Michael Sarnoski
Screenplay by Michael Sarnoski
Story by Michael Sarnoski, John Krasinski
Based on characters created by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck
Produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou
Paramount Pictures, Rated PG-13, Running time 100 minutes, Opens June 28, 2024

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