One of the great strengths of John Krasinski’s original Quiet Place, beyond its ruthlessly effective premise, was the decision to set the film far into the post of its post-apocalyptic setting. Day 472. The world belonged to the monsters, humanity had adapted to survive. Detail was scant on the hows and whys, with imagination encouraged to fill the gaps. That it has taken the franchise just three films to pull the prequel card might, then, feel a touch depressing. Or, rather, it would were Krasinski and incoming writer-director Michael Sarnoski not smart enough to know that themselves. A Quiet Place: Day One is less origins tale than intimate character study with a narrative that could only exist with the first forty-eight hours of invasion.
Nine years have ebbed and flown since our last visit to Riley’s mind, the setting of Pete Docter’s groundbreaking animation Inside Out. They’ve not been kind. Not universally so and certainly not for the studio that made said film. The signs of a heyday past were already well felt in the Pixar production line, even before their pandemic woes. Streaming has been but the cherry on the Disney stewed ratatouille. In short, Pixar haven’t had a hit since 2019. It’s a Dug eat Dug world out there and the stakes could hardly be higher. Thank goodness for Inside Out 2.
Released unto a post-slap world, the fourth Bad Boys carries the double jeopardy of also being Will Smith’s first shot at a box office still reeling from its darkest year. There’s a reason they’ve called this one Ride or Die. Fear not. In short, unlikely financial fallibility is about as dangerous as things get here, frenetic direction and kooky visuals only going so far to disguise the film’s safer instincts. Moreover, so assured is Smith’s gigawatt charisma – on screen at least – that it’s an effort to remember the bulb ever blinked. Almost thirty years on from its debut, the Bad Boys franchise has fuel in its turbo yet.
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