A Quiet Place Day One, But Why?

I believe I wasn't the only one excited to learn that there was going to be one more installment of the A Quiet Place franchise. The first part was intense, and the second was even better. Both highly acclaimed, nothing less could be expected of the third part, A Quiet Place: Day One.

It turned out, as I heard, that this installment was less like an addition and more like another side to the origin story. "Day One," referencing the first day the killing creatures began causing havoc and started the apocalyptic world we would know as "A Quiet Place."

What's thrilling about this franchise is the concept of being attacked by blind creatures that kill and destroy anything that makes sound. The characters are always on the edge, cautious to not make any sound, and have to resolve to communicating with body language or close-range whispers when safe. You never know what sound could get you killed.

This apocalytic type of film where you have to deprive yourself of something in order to survive became increasingly popular between 2018 and the year of the pandamic. Birdbox, you mustn't look; Silence, similar to A Quiet Place; Awake, people couldn't sleep; Into the Night, sunlight kills people. People widely received many of these thrilling films, so much so that they wanted sequels for some of them. Hence, we now have remakes of some of them.

After the second installment, A Quiet Place Part II, I felt like I couldn't get enough of the franchise. I wanted more. But that was it at that time. Now, there's one more. I highly anticipated A Quiet Place: Day One when the trailer was released. It's here now, but I did not get what I hoped for.

Right off the bat, this third installment felt like a completely different film. Yet, at the same time, it felt exactly like the same film. And it wasn't in a desired way. For one, it had a totally different cast—well, except for the Death Angels on a killing spree.

You see, one thing that is common with these apocalyptic films is that they mainly focus on the survival part. There's hardly enough insight as to what started the apocalypse. And there is rarely any move to solve the problem. The films focus mainly on the thrills of the characters trying to survive. That's where most of the entertainment comes from, understandably so, but a little more into the cause and solution would be nice sometimes. And that's one part of the discussion of A Quiet Place: Day One.

How these creatures, the Death Angels, came to earth, nobody really knows. All we know from the first story is that they suddenly appeared and the end of the world began. In part two, the same thing, although it had more depth and tension in its story than the first. To see the exact same thing repeated in the third installment was downright disappointing.

We already know what happened when the death angels mysteriously arrived and how people must try to survive. We know that the characters must be dead silent in everything they do. What we don't know, still, is how these death angels came to being in the first place, what they really want, and why they just kill and destroy like they're always bored or something.

Again, this installment was supposedly meant to be "another angle" to the first story. But did we really need that? I definitely didn't come to see that. I wanted more and not nothing.

I have to give credit to Lupita Nyong'o, though. I mean, she just showed off her acting prowess once again in this film, and I totally love her for it. I think she's the only enjoyable thing in the film. Played her character well, but that wasn't enough to redeem the film.

Oh yes, I shouldn't forget to add. I don't think I have ever seen one animal receive as much screen time in a film that's not even about it as I did in this film. Lupita's character had a cat, and I saw it every damn time. But, oh well, that wasn't bad.

How the film ended was very similar to how the first part ended, with someone having to pay the ultimate sacrifice for someone else. Only that, this time, I didn't even see how necessary that was. It fit in somehow, but it was nothing spectacular to watch.

Perhaps doing remakes or sequels isn't much of a good idea for this type of film. Their stories could become overstretched at some point. It's the same thing I felt about Birdbox Barcelona.