'A Quiet Place Part II' Spoiler Review

Written and Directed by John Krasinski, "A Quiet Place Part II" is the follow-up to the 2018 box office smash and picks up right where the last one left off with Evelyn, (Emily Blunt) and her three children, Marcus, (Noah Jupe) Regan, (played by breakout star Millicent Simmonds) and her newborn son preparing to face a number of monsters after discovering Regan's hearing aids produce a high frequency that weakens them.

Before that, however, Krasinski treats the audience to a thrilling opening sequence that shines more light on what exactly happened to the monsters being on Earth and much of the population appearing to be wiped out.

This "Day 1" sequence allows Krasinski to return as Lee after sacrificing himself to save his children in the first film. With it comes the introduction of a new character, Emmett, played by Cillian Murphy and some exciting long takes after the monsters invade in what seems like a meteor crash. It is here that Lee seems to realize more quickly than everyone else the monsters are attracted to sound, which indicates why his family and home were so prepared in the first film and had many precautions in place.

Once the films picks back up in present day, Evelyn and the kids make their way to a bigger city and Marcus is caught in a bear trap, which brings an issue with the film.

What made the first one so great was the amount of tension created in staying silent and when that silence was broken, the tension exploded. This was set up through the monsters in the first film reaching the source of the sound within 10-15 seconds. So, anytime someone made a sound, the audience knew the characters had to immediately get out of there.

However, in the second film that does not seem to be the case, as it take a good 45 seconds to a minute for the monsters to reach Marcus's screaming. This can likely be explained by the area in the first film being much smaller than the city they now appear to be in, but one would think there would be more monsters in the city.

The sense of danger seems to be lowered with this change in the second film as they have more time to escape. Also, some audience members will likely think Marcus is stupid for not even attempting to be quiet when caught in the bear trap (his mother kept quiet for the majority of her childbirth in the first film) but, he is just a kid. He has a higher pain tolerance and these people complaining have also probably never seen a bear trap in person.

Once they reach sanctuary with Emmett, who has lost his family, he feels obligated to help Evelyn. It is here where the plot of the film takes off.

He shows them that he picked up a radio signal that plays the song "Beyond the Sea" on a loop, but thinks it is meaningless. Regan disagrees and believes it is referencing a map that could potentially have other survivors and a radio tower that she could use to broadcast the high frequency sound from her hearing aid.

She heads off after only telling Marcus where she is going. Later, Emmett goes after her and the two become the focus in the film. This was nice with Murphy being given such a large role, as well as Simmonds, but it was disappointing to see Blunt sidelined so much, considering she was set up to be the new leader of the film after the previous film's ending.

The two together offers much similarity to the successful video game "The Last of Us" as Emmett has to adjust to Regan's deafness and they bicker because of that and Emmett wanting to turn back.

Regan prevails and the two venture on toward the island. Along the way, Emmett walks on gravel in his boots, but apparently the monsters can't hear that anymore.

There is much potential for the island being the key to the next generation of survivors as well as a sanctuary since the monsters cannot swim. However, Krasinski has other ideas as a monster makes its way to the island and kills multiple inhabitants, including one played by Djimon Hounsou, who has maybe 10 minute of screen time before dying a meaningless death.

Emmett and Regan succeed in making it to the radio tower as she takes way too long to press the hearing aid to the microphone, which hopefully teaches other survivors its weakness. She has accomplished her goal and Marcus his, in finding his bravery and protecting his mother and baby brother back at the factory where they remain through the entire film.

Krasinski again cuts to black somewhat abruptly as we do not see the results of Regan's actions, which is undoubtedly setting up a third film.

Overall, "A Quiet Place Part II" is masterfully directed but contains a lot of questionable decisions and things that don't make much sense in the script. The end result is a entertaining, well made suspense flick, but is held back from passing its predecessor.