The One Scene That Almost Ruined A Quiet Place Part II
When "A Quiet Place" crept into theaters back in 2018, audiences had no idea that they were in for a terrifyingly tense horror-thriller that isn't afraid to pull its punches. "Jack Ryan" star John Krasinski directed the film and starred as the male lead, playing Lee Abbott alongside his real-life spouse, Emily Blunt, as Evelyn Abbott. They try to teach their children how to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by creatures that hunt using sound. Its huge success at the box office, where it's earned $340 million so far (per Box Office Mojo), meant Paramount quickly greenlit a sequel.
"A Quiet Place Part II" had a difficult road to the screen, as it was delayed a number of times due to the pandemic, but it was met with critical acclaim when it finally arrived in theaters. It picks up moments after the ending of the first film, as the Abbott family leaves their ruined home to look for safety elsewhere.
The sequel beefs up the cast, with Cillian Murphy playing one of the Abbotts' neighbors, Emmett. He's a reclusive loner who has lost his entire family by the time audiences meet him, but he finds a little faith after meeting Regan Abbott (Millicent Simmonds). Djimon Hounsou also shows up later on in the story in a possible sanctuary for the family, and his role helps widen the story for the third chapter in the series. But as entertaining as the film is, there's one scene that apparently almost ruins "A Quiet Place Part II."
The opening attack
The film starts with Evelyn, Regan, and Marcus Abbott (Noah Jupe) as they search for survivors, and they head toward an old industrial building, entering a fenced-off area filled with junk. Unfortunately, Marcus stands in a beartrap, which crunches his leg as he lets out an almighty scream ... Oh dear. Obviously, this draws the monsters toward the Abbotts, but Regan uses her cochlear implant and an amplifier to cripple the creature before Evelyn kills it. It's the same method they use to finally kill one of the monsters in the first film's ending, and according to Filmento on YouTube, the sequel shoots itself in the foot by doing so.
The video explains that because the sequel doesn't evolve the creatures to overcome their feedback weakness or give them extra abilities to compensate for it, this immediately undercuts the entire element of terror in the film. "The movie never even tries to patch up this weakness or evolve the creatures to reconstruct their inherent danger that this whole world was created to be built on," Filmento explains. The clip also points out that the audience and the characters already know how to kill the creatures, so any fight they have is irrelevant.
Filmento also compares "Part II" to James Cameron's "Aliens" — since the 1986 sequel sees Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the marines facing hordes of Xenomorphs instead of just one creature, as well as introducing the idea of a Xenomorph Queen. The video suggests "that's what you do in a film like this, you either reduce the hero's ability to exploit the creatures' weakness or you evolve the creatures to the point where that same weakness is no longer there."
We'll just have to see what "A Quiet Place Part III" has in store for the creatures.