Great effort killed by its inconsistency

Rating: 5/10 (21 June 2018)

'A quiet place' is a film that revolves around a concept as interesting as dangerous. While making a film that can (or shouldn't) include any dialogue or loud noises allows for the use of shocking and interesting sound effects, it's almost impossible to get it through without breaking a couple rules for the sake of advancing the story or creating more thrilling situations. Even so, John Krasinski manages to produce a very atmospheric and well wrapped first half, staying somewhat loyal to the rules of the universe he has created, and avoiding at all cost the excesive use of jumpscares. The photography and directing is really good, and even though the VFX aren't anything extraordinary and the creatures' design looks pretty lame, we never get the feeling of being watching a cheap movie, and the spectator can enjoy the silent and tense atmosphere and the characters, which are very well acted and easy to care for, even with the little character development a film with barely no dialogue allows.
But the film breaks its premise halfway through, and starts to rely too much on histrionic events, unlikely behaviours and unbeliavable measures. From matresses soundproofing entire rooms, to newborns staying silent under really uncomfortable conditions, or piles of corn defying all rules of physics, the film starts travelling downhill at light speed, rushing towards and ending that will leave most thinking minds wondering how a pack of blind, slowish creatures (and not so many of them by the looks of it) that are sensitive to loud sound waves and can be killed with a single shotgun shot overran the military of any country, let alone (apparently) the whole world. If that wasn't enough, Krasinski decides that instead of going for an open ending, its even better to simply cut the film in the middle of its climax and give absolutely no conclusion at all, effectively destroying all the good work done up to the point.
In the end, 'A quiet place' feels like nothing but a wasted effort, a horror/adventure movie which could have brought a whole new level to the genre but ended falling for the same cheap tricks most such movies use for pure shock value.