A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)

"A Quiet Place: Day One" has a central character who is completely believable. Her name is Samira and she is terminally ill and what she is doing makes her appear to be more foolhardy than almost everyone else trapped in New York city on day one. It is not surprising she is looked upon with total incredulity when other people find out what she is attempting to accomplish in the middle of all this frightening chaos which could possibly signal the end of civilisation as we know it. The film somehow manages to successfully create a well balanced whole which doesn't lapse into a damaging split with Samira and Eric on one side of a rapidly expanding gulf and the attacking creatures on the other side with neither combining at any point to create a coherent and satisfying whole. The opposite just happens to be true with the two distinct halves beautifully dovetailing into each other to produce a captivating, exciting, and enjoyable film which is visually sensational and thoroughly worthwhile.

Nothing special. My first and enduring reaction to A Quiet Place Day One.
Perhaps the biggest shortcoming is rather flat, indifferent, cynical characterisations. "Everything is shit...." According to the main character. Perhaps this reflects the New York way of being? Big city rat races and so on? Suffice to say, it doesn't work.
What made the first two films such a success was a family dynamic with people who were close and cared deeply about each other. You could empathise with them, buy into their plight, when faced with an alien other.
Beyond this the horror/actions scenes are alright but again, because the vibe is wrong, the film just feels like its going through the motions. Its been done before yes, so whats this film adding to the equation? As far as I can see, very little.
In summary, a nice idea but the overall set up just doesn't work for me. The results "just another" horror action flick with a few jump scares to keep you on the edge of your seat and little else. If you are going to build on a successful franchise you need to look "hard" at what made those other films such as success and inject something that is original but also taps into those elements, in a meaningful way.