John Krasinski’s 2018 megahit film A Quiet Place spawned a sequel released in 2021, pushed a year and a half after its initial release date in March 2020, moved for obvious reasons. Paramount Pictures had so much faith in the film, they moved it to an optimal theatrical release after pandemic movie theater closures. A Quiet Place: Part 2 also did well, leading the studio to greenlight a third film, and the film we’re going to talk about today, A Quiet Place: Day One, to follow different characters on the day of the alien invasion central to this story.

A certain thing about our lead character has been curiously absent from the marketing materials and trailers for this film, but it’s impossible to not discuss it in a review. It is literally the second image you see in the film, after an establishing shot of the New York City skyline. So, I will be as vague as I can, but if you want to go into this movie not knowing anything at all, maybe read this review after seeing the movie. For what it’s worth, I do recommend the film for a number of different reasons. But I’ll get into that more in the paragraphs below.

A Quiet Place: Day One introduces us to Samira (Lupita Nyong’o), a woman dying of terminal cancer living in a hospice outside of New York City. A group of the residents in this hospice are taking a trip into the city to see a play. She agrees to tag along under the condition they stop to buy pizza at her favorite spot in the city. She brings along her therapy cat, a resourceful little kitty named Frodo. And once they’re in the city, that is the day that the A Quiet Place aliens that are sensitive to sound, wreak havoc on the city. Samira teams up with a stranger (Joseph Quinn) a Brit who is in New York studying to be a lawyer. The two create an unlikely bond and help each other through this new and terrifying landscape.

I was unaware before going in that A Quiet Place: Day One was directed by Michael Sarnoski, who previously directed the very good Nicolas Cage starring indie drama Pig, a few years ago. This is Sarnoski’s second feature, and he brings a very distinct indie movie sensibility to Day One, more so than the film’s advertising material would suggest. There are big action-heavy sequences, and moments of great fear and tension that work fine, but the film gets a lot more interesting in the second half, after things quiet down and the film focuses more on the inner lives of two lead characters and what their bond means.

It was easy to assume A Quiet Place: Day One would be something of a cynical cash-grab endeavor. The existence of an in-between sequels spinoff to a popular franchise does not inspire much hope in the viewer. I mainly thought this would be a nothing horror film that could be dressed up a bit by the likes of the great Lupita Nyong’o, and while she’s great here, the movie is more than that. And a lot of that seems to be due to Sarnoski’s sensitive direction and screenplay. John Krasinski oversees this franchise (he has a story credit here), and the resistance to let this franchise steer into blockbuster movie territory is quite admirable, and satisfying from the viewer’s perspective. The image of New York City being terrorized by giant monsters, and say, Lupita Nyong’o covered in dust, staggering around the ravaged streets of Manhattan evoke strong images of 9/11, however, and I could see that being triggering for many moviegoers.

Lupita Nyong’o has carved out quite the place for herself in the horror world. She’s had to fight hard to establish a rapport with moviegoers, after finding herself struggling to book roles after her Oscar win. And she’s brilliant in everything. This is a similar case that we had with Furiosa a few weeks ago where you need to hire the actor with the really expressive eyes in the movie where there’s minimal dialogue. And you can see what drew an actress of Nyong’o’s caliber to this character. Since we know the character is terminally ill, the stakes for her in this situation are a little more interesting than they might be otherwise. It’s compelling to see when she chooses to fight back and what she fights for, instead of the easier option of giving up, because the goal is not survival in the long run. And the relationship with the Joseph Quinn character is quiet and reveals itself little by little, and I was pleased by how the script created their bond.

A Quiet Place: Day One succeeds where other franchise spin-off cash grabs have failed due to its laser sharp focus on character drama rather than the noisy summer movie blockbuster cacophony. Like the other Quiet Place movies, it’s never too long and does not overstay its welcome, and provides plenty of nail-biting suspense for the duration. And Frodo the cat is amazing. This movie is also respectful to animal lovers, and the bond between humans and animals – which I guess is also a major theme in Pig. A Quiet Place: Day One is tense, lean and surprisingly moving, boasting yet another remarkable Lupita Nyong’o performance. I’m excited to see where this franchise could go if it maintains this level of quality.