★★★★

The world has been invaded by blind, alien creatures who hunt using one sense alone: sound. A Quiet Place follows a family's plight to survive these merciless creatures, and all the restraints that comes with merely living in their vicinity. The only given in their day-to-day life is complete silence.

 

John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play the protective parents alongside the undeniably talented Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and Cade Woodward as their children. The scene is quickly and silently set with a series of snippets showing newspaper clips revealing how humanity has been taken hostage by frightening creatures who seek out sound and kill it.

 

Cut to John Kransinski's frantic whiteboards scribbled over with theories and questions and you quickly understand his ferocity for finding the creatures' weakness while keeping his family alive. He is very much the strong, protective father throughout, a gargantuan step away from his comedic, Jim Halpert days on The Office. It's impressive how far removed he is from all other roles, completely embodying this new character. Along with Emily Blunt's maternal version of fierce protector, they're entirely believable throughout. It's not until after the end credits that we realise we never learnt a character's  name, only adding to the intrigue.

 

The audience is thrown immediately into the thick of the plot, and it's a few moments before your realise you're watching an almost entirely silent film...almost. Sound becomes life or death, so everything that graces your ears is hugely significant. The rural setting allows for the thriller-essential cornfield and barn, but don't expect predictability. Every detail is incredibly intriguing as you see how John Kransinski's character has created the ability to live silently. The plot becomes more frightening when we realise Emily Blunt's character is pregnant. With a labour and newborn on the horizon you wonder how there'll be a single survivor.

 

The children played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe are standout characters. Millicent is a tortured soul, coping with being deaf in a world where knowing sound is more important than ever before. And Noah captures that feeling of complete fear, flawlessly.

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The film is thrilling and frightening without any over-gratuitous gore, showing it's more about what you can't see, than what you can.

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Silence has never sounded so good. A Quiet Place is one of the must watch films of 2018.
★★★★

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