The Plotholes Don't Matter

Rating: 8/10 (17 March 2020)

A Quiet Place follows a single family as they navigate a new world of silence. The daughter of the family being deaf gives them an advantage in this landscape as they're all still able to communicate with one another. But this movie isn't about the alien invasion, it's about them, the family. It's about being a family. The mother, Evelyn is heavily pregnant, which as you can imagine poses its own problems. You can't keep babies quiet, and good luck not screaming through labour. Thankfully they're a smart family with a lot of smart solutions to problems. For instance they have a soundproofed basement for the baby to reside in, and a further soundproofed box with breathing apparatus to put the child in should things get hairy. They use a system of lights as a warning, use paths of sand to walk around barefoot, and keep connections with other local survivors by regular check-ins by firelight.
What I found really refreshing and unexpected about this movie was how incredibly light it was on plot. Where did the creatures come from? Doesn't matter. How have the family managed to keep corn crops without making a sound? Doesn't matter. Why is the mother pregnant again? Doesn't really matter, but you'll understand if you pay attention and don't lack brain cells. Instead the film is super simple, basing almost the entirety of the action on the family farm, and almost all the tension derives from things going from bad to worse one thing at a time, and setting it all up well in advance. You see the nail pointing up through the step and you know what's going to happen. Rather than this predictability being a problem, it instead suspends you as you wait for the inevitable, and fully understand the consequences of when it does finally happen. And then it snowballs. One thing after another, and even when you think they're safe, something else happens putting your heart back in your throat.
The acting is great all round, especially from the kid actors. John Krasinski achieves a perfect balance between acting and directing, giving a very genuine performance as a father stuck in a hard position, trying his best to protect his family. Near the end his performance may even give you chills. Emily Blunt is fantastic as the mother, going through the emotions effortlessly as if this was all really happening. She's a supportive mother, a loving wife, and when she endures pain, she endures it harder than anyone else. Naturally the chemistry Blunt and Krasinski share is palpable, which is not surprising considering their real life relationship. But the kids really impress. Noah Jupe is maybe the most expected of the child actors as Marcus, who still clings to being a child as much as he can despite knowing he needs to mature up and help pull his weight. He's ultimately a child wracked by fear. Millicent Simmonds absolutely nails it though as the defiant Regan, determined to not be defined or looked down upon by her disability. Her real life deafness really adds authenticity to the emotions she displays, having grown up with other ways to communicate and emote. Big props to everyone else for learning sign language though, the movie wouldn't have been the same without it.
And yet the biggest star of the movie was the sound department, or more rather their restraint. The film's biggest strength is its use of silence. Every little sound becomes amplified and carries so much more weight than usual, thanks in large part to so much of the movie being in absolute silence. The score by Marco Beltrami never betrays this approach, only peeking in when absolutely necessary to add emotional depth and enhance the suspense. Krasinski otherwise lets the silence speak for itself. There's nothing more nerve-wracking than a rattle, bang, or cry when it literally means life or death.
A Quiet Place is a tight ninety minutes of nail-biting tension. It never outstays its welcome, touches on just enough world-building to entice without detracting from the core family and their one bad night in the country, and displays some of the most restrained and atmospheric directing from Krasinski. There are plot holes here, but they never detract from the film's underlying foundations, and most can be explained away with a little bit of thought, or just simply don't matter to the story it wants to tell. Why didn't she remove the nail? I don't know, when did she even have a chance to remove the nail? I give A Quiet Place a very high 8/10, and honestly I could easily give it more.