From the moment she struts into her first frame in MaXXine, skin-tight in silhouette and denim, Mia Goth is everything. In a film all about exploitation and the thirst for fame, only she has the fangs to drink it. There’s just something about her ownership of Ti West’s screen that screams star, even without the Bette Davis’ eyes and Betty Boop lips. No doubt, the film itself, which is likely the weaker of the now three X films, underserves Goth’s gumption. Certainly, it’s an uneven effort, rising well but folding hard. And yet, so long as there’s bite in those fangs, there’s a compelling beat to be found.
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.
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