REVIEW: ‘Day One’ shows diminishing returns for ‘Quiet Place’ series

“A Quiet Place: Day One” turns out to be quite the bargain, since the movie shows day two and day three as well.

What the title really implies, though, is that this is a spin-off prequel showing how the conflict at play in the previous “Quiet Place” films from 2018 and 2020 started. Set in New York, the film centers on Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminal cancer patient and poet who, emotionally, is barely getting by.

On a day where she decides to go out in the city with others from a hospice center, the sight-by-sound aliens from previous installments begin dropping from the sky. The sudden alien attack pushes her into an effort for survival, and she’s joined along the way by another individual trying to stay alive.

The first “Quiet Place” film introduced some unique monsters that made for a refreshing horror scenario. The need for protagonists to stay silent, their clever ways of doing so, and the lurking threat making any mistake critical, all created a ton of suspense, resulting in a really good genre entry.

The second film continued to offer suspense by way of characters narrowly avoiding the creatures and some exciting set pieces. However, the sequel didn’t hit the same way the first one did, as the trick wasn’t quite as entertaining the second time around. Plus, the direction it took some characters was disappointing.

So that brings us to “Day One,” a prequel that unfortunately shows that the trick has been taken about as far as it can go. This new “Quiet Place” movie does have moments that can put an audience on edge, but there are much less this time around. It becomes clear that you can only do the same thing so many times before it gets stale.

One thing to note is that the characters in the film know almost immediately that they have to stay extremely quiet and quickly become adept at doing so. It seems a bit rushed, but doesn’t break immersion.

The bigger issue is that it leads to more of the same things audiences have seen before: people being able to talk near falling water, having to not breath as the monsters open their face to hear better and minor mistakes like bumping into something and the noise causing carnage.

The New York City setting at least adds a different type of atmosphere than the rural one provided in the first two films. However, even in the grander location, it feels like the movie is going through the standard “Quiet Place” motions.

By the time the film gets to the third act, it’s easy to just be over the whole concept. There’s even a cheap jump scare in the middle of the movie that really shows the film is running low on thrills. It makes one wish this series had changed its direction a bit, perhaps insert more action. Unfortunately, the audience is treated to almost no scenes of the military fighting the creatures.

“The Purge” series actually came to mind during the screening. Certainly not to compare quality, but the ability to change tonal direction. The first film in that franchise was a home invasion movie, but then the next films offered a complete shift to action thrillers. With “Day One” retreading ground, it starts to feel like something other than just a location change was brought in.

That’s actually not entirely accurate, as the movie had another change: the characters. This being a spin-off, “Day One” doesn’t follow the family from the other movies, instead centering on the two lone NYC survivors. Disappointingly, neither character is especially interesting to follow.

Having an Academy Award winner in Nyong’o certainly helps give the movie a boost, as her talent shines through and gives Sam some charisma. Yet the character’s health status and overall motivation saps urgency from the overall film. It does add an emotional element, but that doesn’t make the movie all that more compelling.

Director Michael Sarnoski previously helmed the drama “Pig,” which was an absolutely wonderful film from 2021. He shows off his dramatic abilities again with this movie’s emotional sequences, which work well enough, but at the end of the day, it’s not really what the audience is here for.

It also doesn’t help that the other protagonist is an awkward addition to the movie. He follows around Sam aimlessly and ultimately, isn’t very memorable. The character is mostly bland, and Quinn doesn’t get to do much with the portrayal other than make Eric fret.

It’s a  shame because the film introduces another character, Henri, played by the awesome Djimon Hounsou. All things considered, he should have been the one accompanying Sam. At least the cat that follows the two characters is amusing, though.

So, this review seems pretty harsh, but in all honesty, “A Quiet Place: Day One” isn’t a bad movie, just a largely underwhelming one. As mentioned earlier, there are tense scenes in the film, and a few good set pieces.

There are also some great visuals, such as a shot where tons of creatures are crawling all over New York’s buildings. Yet it still feels like the film is spinning its wheels at the end of the day. 2.45 out of 5.