How I Maximized My Quiet Place 2 Experience, and Why It Was Worth It.
When I watched Sound of Metal in theaters a month ago, I was disappointed that I could hear everything going on in the movie next door during the film's final scene. I committed to finding a better movie theater to watch it again. I had this drawn-out plan to research and find a smaller movie theater with fewer movies playing to have an even better experience. Unfortunately, Amazon Prime owns Sound of Metal, and the showing I went to was a rare occasion. I decided to put the same effort to re-watch Sound of Metal into preparing to watch A Quiet Place Part II.
I looked through the list of theaters playing A Quiet Place Part II and found a theater name that I didn't recognize. Could this be a smaller theater? Perhaps one with fewer movies playing? When I called them up, they told me that they only had a few films playing simultaneously. When I told them why I was calling, they kindly admitted that when A Quiet Place came out in 2018, many people complained about hearing the other movies going on. She said that nothing has changed since then. "Any recommendations?" The first theater she recommended was Megaplex at Jordan Commons. Really, a blockbuster theater? I decided to call them up anyways.
"Well, you're in luck," the guy at the Megaplex said. "All of our theaters are entirely soundproof. Only 6 of the ten theaters are in use right now. The only other loud movie is the Saw Spiral movie, and that's playing on the opposite side of the building. The movies playing next to A Quiet Place are a horse movie (Dream Horse) and on the other side is some comedy movie (probably Here Today)." I think, Wow, this guy is good, but he's perhaps some salesperson winging it.
Alright, let's talk about the movie. Just like A Quiet Place (2018), A Quiet Place Part II needs to be watched in theaters. A Quiet Place Part II is just as good as its predecessor. It is not often that a sequel lives up to the movie it follows, but A Quiet Place Part II is a true masterpiece. Some of the strengths of A Quiet Place Part II are its Sound Design (of course), its editing as a whole, and Cillian Murphy's performance as Emmett.
Like the first movie, the sound design is the greatest strength of A Quiet Place Part II. That was clear from the start when you can hear the tiny noises of everything happening on-screen and what's supposed to be happening off-screen. The movie starts before the events of the first movie. We see what life was like before the monsters arrive. We hear Lee walking through the grocery store, pulling items off the shelf, and ripping the grocery bag out of the dispenser. Even though I knew this took place before the monsters arrived, I was clenching my fists from the beginning of the movie because of conditioning from the first movie and the incredible sound effects.
Overall, this film had great editing. When it comes to film editing, merit is determined by how well the editing serves the story. A Quiet Place Part II reminded me of 2018's Best Editing winner, Dunkirk. How Dunkirk beautifully told the story from the point of view of three different groups. The film beautifully weaved the three stories together. A Quiet Place Part II follows two groups: Emmett as he helps Regan attempt to broadcast the high frequencies of Regan's implant, and Evelyn as she stays behind to look over injured Marcus and her infant. A Quiet Place Part II's film editor Michael P. Shawver uses parallel editing in a way that I've never seen done to this extent to weave the two stories together to flow as if they were one.
Cillian Murphy's role as Emmett is another strength of this film. In other films, he's never stood out. Whenever I see him, I think, Oh look; it's Scarecrow from Batman. Even in Dunkirk, when he played a completely different role, Scarecrow! When they introduce his character at the beginning of A Quiet Place Part II, he's wearing a trucker hat and tattoos. He's not that skinny white-collar character from Batman, Inception, and Red Eye. I recognized him but thought, Wow, this is different. Later in the film, the Abbott family runs into post-apocalypse Emmett, and he's completely unrecognizable. It was a complete reversal from the cartoony character he plays in every other movie. This role felt like an everyday neighbor. It felt natural, and he molded into this character well.
As for the experience itself, yes, everything the Megaplex worker said was right. It was incredible. Like Sound of Metal, there's a moment in A Quiet Place Part II where it goes completely silent for an extended period. It felt like I was in a bubble. I realized that I originally planned this out all wrong. While I initially wanted to find a smaller theater with fewer movies playing, I should have been looking for a Blockbuster theater that ensured soundproof theater rooms. Now I know which theater to go to from now on.
When the movie ended, I got up to leave—one of my friends that I watched the film with stayed behind. I asked if he was staying behind for the music. He nodded his head, yes. With all the preparation I put into making sure that this was the perfect experience, I was happy that someone enjoyed the experience more than me. I sat right back down and stayed through the entire credits.
