Tense, original, unsettling.

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2018)

In John Krasinski's directorial debut, we follow a family forced into perpetual silence to evade extraterrestrial monsters with exceptional (albeit inconsistent) hearing. We see the way of life the humans must adopt to survive, and the severe consequences of when those rules are broken. The creatures (of unknown origin) hunt exclusively using their hearing, forcing humans to resort to a world without noise, if they wish to stay alive.
There is something unnerving about a large group of people in utter silence, transfixed, daring themselves not to make a noise out of reverence for the film they are watching. This felt original, backed by a good story that worked particularly well in a cinematic atmosphere. Moments of tension were executed perfectly and with brilliant acting, particularly by Emily Blunt. Krasinski handles the camera well using creeping angles and smooth tracking shots to establish an eerie dystopian world. Noise was used sparingly but often to very good effect heightening the drama of a scene and emphasizing shocks. Considering there was a relatively small budget ($17 million) the set is well devised and doesn't detract from the immersion of the movie. The monsters had a very unsettling look and were well designed, which added to their menace.
There were many drawbacks however, such as the over use of jump scares, which surpassed their effectiveness after considerable repetition. Once the suspense began, it did not let up. This became a problem as there can only be so much tension a person can feel before a plateau occurs. One moment would go wrong after another, not allowing any processing of information or respite from the action. With such a short run time (90min) it would have been no bad thing to focus on character development during down time and allow the audience to fully digest the ramifications of what they have just witnessed. There are large plot holes concerning the inconsistency of the monster's hearing. Once you start unwinding that thread it can lead to a lot more flaws (why don't they set up camp by the river? Do the monsters distinguish between living/non living sound? Wouldn't monsters be attracted to all the sounds of nature constantly overstimulating them? etc) Such an abrupt ending may have benefited from a defter touch to conclude a thoroughly thrilling movie.
Acting: 8
Writing: 6
Directing: 7
Cinematography: 7
Editing: 7
Sound: 9
Visual Affects: 7
Production design: 7

Overall: 7.3