Missed opurtunity to be really great.

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2018)

There were a lot of things that were really great about this film, including Emily blunts performance, the cinematography was beautiful and the setting of the farmhouse was brilliantly detailed. The farmhouse was very well done and you could tell the filmmakers took there time putting thought and effort into creatively suggesting how the family avoid making any noises. All the little details like the sand along the paths and the paint marks on the floorboards, to avoid squeaky steps highlight the extent the family have gone to survive. Other negative reviewers have been very nit picky on how the movie is inconsistent at times with how the monsters seem to ignore certain noises like the mole falling off the top of the roof. But I didn't notice these during the film and I don't mind suspending my disbelief for the enjoyement of any movie.
The advertised gimmick of the film to not make any noise wasn't all that gimmicky in the end and the director did really well translating what was going on in the film visually with the characters rather than them having to explain everything that was going on. Adopting the show don't tell method of filmmaking is a difficult feat and takes a lot of creativity, this aproach always pays off as it doesn't undermine an audiences ability to work out what's going on on screen, because being spoon fed every detail through ear scraping dialogue never helped any film. Having said that the conversations between the characters in certain scenes could have been better. The waterfall scene would have felt a lot more natural if the father and son just started having a normal conversation rather than the dad just screaming out of nowhere and having them bicker about the noise they were making. It could have been more effective to see and hear two characters speak normally and it would have made the scene stand out a lot more.
I hate to critique the film like this but after seeing all the amazing reviews I went in with high expectations and was disappointed by the way certain sequences and directing decisions were handled. I know I definitely couldn't have done a better job myself but I guess I'm just angry that there's so many obvious things that could have been done to elevate the film to make it accurately represent the overly generous scores it's been receiving.
The monster could have been handled so much better than it was in the film. Visually the design wasn't bad, I liked the way how different parts of it's head moved around, it was creepy and set it apart, if only slightly,from obvious comparisons like the monsters in clover field and stranger things. However they ruined the reveal of the monster by showing it within the first 5 minutes of the film in broad daylight. The director shouldn't have shown the creature so soon and should have left the audience to use there imagination a little longer, so as to build suspense and tension for a bigger reveal, which I think could have really paid off. After the scene where the monster kills the boy I didn't feel as intimidated or scared as I should have. Think back to jaws and alien, they don't reveal the villain until a considerate portion of the way though the film, and when they do it's tense and suspenseful, especially in alien during the scene were the crew member is searching for his cat. The film could of benefited from a scene like this.
I feel like there were so many little tweaks or additions to the script that could have been put in place to elevate the tension and supsense.
The script could have been so much better if they took more time in fleshing out the characters and the tense situations they got thrown into.
The sequence where Emily blunt goes into labour and stands on the nail was brilliantly tense and me and my friends were squirming in our seats but the film peaks in tension here and fails to remotely reach the same heights throughout the rest of the film. The film would have been better off if they delayed Emily blunts labour which lasts about 20 minutes if that, don't people usually spend hours in labour? I'm no expert but I think it would have so much more interesting to see how the characters could have continued to avoid making noise during blunts labour. Because they wouldn't have been able to keep them fire works going forever. Missed opportunity for more tense and creative scenes.
Also It would have been so much more interesting if they explained or delved deeper into the reasons why the parents came round to having another baby in the first place. Considering the fact that all baby's are completely helpless to making considerable amounts of noise you'd think they'd avoid having another child altogether. Especially in a world where monsters prey on the slightest bit of noise. Did they decide to have another child to make themselves feel better about the loss of their boy who was killed at the start of the film? It would have been nice to see this clued into the film more as it would have developed the relationship between the daughter and the father. She clearly felt very guilty and responsible for his death and she should have shown more concern to her parents about bringing another child into the family.
The jump scares were used terribly, I was just getting into the film when an unnecessary jump scare came out of nowhere. Not gonna lie I did crap myself and all my mates laughed at me but I failed to even flinch at any of the other 5 jump scares that came after it through the duration of the film. I feel jump scares are terrible for killing suspense especially when they're used when the mole falls off the rooof and when Emily blunt reveals her self in the shower after giving birth. I can't understand the logic behind the filmmakers decision to tell the audience that they should be jump scared by a mole or even one of the lead characters! I want to be scared by the monster not because I the film went silent then all of a sudden a really loud piano explodes out of the speakers in the cinema.
Also the ending felt so rushed, underwhelming and inconclusive. We didn't really get to see any interesting or insightful character arch's, apart from the relationship of the father and daughter, evolve through the film which was disappointing. The final shot of Emily blunt pumping the shotgun was ridiculously cheesy and felt like the last shot of an action movie instead of an tense suspense film.
Not a bad film there were things I liked mainly the cinematography, the setting and Emily blunt. The screenplay needed more work to help us feel for the characters and the director could have made some better decisions that didn't kill the tension of the film. it doesn't deserve the praise it's getting. 6/10