★★★★

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.