In 2018, "A Quiet Place" pleasantly surprised us. It was a film that overcame its glaring plot holes and banalities (and boy, were there plenty) with ambitious world-building, strong performances (especially by Emily Blunt and Millicent Simmonds), great setups and executions (that nail!), and absolutely stellar sound work (perhaps the scariest thing about the whole film is how it lost its deserved Best Sound Editing Oscar win to - *checks notes* - "Bohemian Rhapsody"). It was an effective chiller and thriller alike; it knew when to fine tune the moments of silence, and when to pull out the big guns when the volume eventually increased. Three years later, "A Quiet Place Part II" left us unfulfilled and underwhelmed, despite the film sharing many of the first installment's strengths and even building on them on multiple occasions. After an extremely solid opening sequence that shows us the inciting events of the alien invasion we were plopped into during the first film, "Part II" picks up exactly where its predecessor ended. But it meanders from there, not finding much footing until there's about a half hour left in the run time and things finally start getting a bit interesting. And that's completely fine. If anything, the strikingly familiar mediocrity of watching an immediately forgettable blockbuster horror sequel in a shoddy, corporate multiplex made us experience a sense of normalcy we haven't felt in quite some time. Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork ??️? (?️: Greg Vellante, ?: Evelyn (Emily Blunt) braves the unknown in "A Quiet Place Part II.” / Paramount)

In 2018, "A Quiet Place" pleasantly surprised us. It was a film that overcame its glaring plot holes and banalities (and boy, were there plenty) with ambitious world-building, strong performances (especially by Emily Blunt and Millicent Simmonds), great setups and executions (that nail!), and absolutely stellar sound work (perhaps the scariest thing about the whole film is how it lost its deserved Best Sound Editing Oscar win to - *checks notes* - "Bohemian Rhapsody"). It was an effective chiller and thriller alike; it knew when to fine tune the moments of silence, and when to pull out the big guns when the volume eventually increased. Three years later, "A Quiet Place Part II" left us unfulfilled and underwhelmed, despite the film sharing many of the first installment's strengths and even building on them on multiple occasions. After an extremely solid opening sequence that shows us the inciting events of the alien invasion we were plopped into during the first film, "Part II" picks up exactly where its predecessor ended. But it meanders from there, not finding much footing until there's about a half hour left in the run time and things finally start getting a bit interesting. And that's completely fine. If anything, the strikingly familiar mediocrity of watching an immediately forgettable blockbuster horror sequel in a shoddy, corporate multiplex made us experience a sense of normalcy we haven't felt in quite some time. Tap link in bio to continue on @EDGEmedianetwork ??️? (?️: Greg Vellante, ?: Evelyn (Emily Blunt) braves the unknown in "A Quiet Place Part II.” / Paramount)