I’m going to tell you something you already know:
A Quiet Place Part II is not as good as the first film. It is hardly a surprise. After all, the first film was a tour de force, the sort of film few mainstream directors try to make anymore. John Krasinski set several major challenges for himself: near silence, no dialogue, no exposition, an unseen menace, and a confined setting. The result was stunning and nearly flawless.
But you couldn’t do another film just like it Even if you did, it wouldn’t have the raw power of the first film. it would be no more than a tired copy.
Which does seem to be the fate of so many sequels.
The strange thing, though, is that this is a remarkably good film. Far better than I expected, in fact.
After a short intro showing us what happened on the day the creatures arrived and introducing a major character (an intro which never really seems all that necessary, except to give John Krasinski a brief appearance) we pick up the story where we left off last time, with the family about to set off to find other people.
Now I particularly liked the themes here, about sacrifice and taking risks to find a better life for those you love — and those who depend on you.
But something more remarkable happens when John Krasinski breaks the narrative into three separate stories and edits the together with remarkable skill. It reminds me a lot of the climax of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance, which keeps the audience on the edge of its seats for an hour and a half. Film students will probably be studying this film for years.
If it isn’t beneath their notice because it’s just a monster movie, that is.
This time around, we see a lot more of the creatures — too much, perhaps — although the movie isn’t really a horror film. Instead, it is adventure, suspense and action, and its three-fold structure gives it plenty of room for all three.
Once again, although most viewers won’t notice, John Krasinski gave us yet another tour de force of a film. I’ll confess that I didn’t expect much (and I still think there was no real need for a sequel, no matter how good), but John still delivered one of the best monster movies anyone has made in a long time
It’s just not as good as A Quiet Place.
But then, that would be asking a lot…
rivets on the poster 
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