HOLLYWOOD—I was eager to watch “A Quiet Place: Day One” after seeing the exceptional, “A Quiet Place” and its solid sequel, “A Quiet Place II.” However, I hate to admit this prequel does not compare to the first two movies in the franchise. When it comes to acting Lupita Nyong’o is stellar as Sam, a cancer patient who knows her days are numbered. Death is nearing and she really doesn’t have much to live for.

Eric (Joseph Quinn), is a scared lonely sole, and these two find themselves trying to survive a deadly alien invasion that creates an onslaught in New York City. Yes, I found the opening of this movie perhaps the first 15 to 20 minutes amazing. It was visually stunning; the story was being introduced and then utter chaos is unleashed causing panic all around.

After that opening, the movie drags for me, it really drags until you get to the final act, where there is a bit of suspense, but nothing like the events of suspense in the first and second movie. The tension was so massive you were on the edge of your seat watching. That did not happen a single time for me as I took in this prequel. If anything I kept asking myself, if something grand or epic is going to unfold and if so, when is it going to actually happen?

Yes, the audience sees this bond between Sam and Eric build as they help one another navigate staying quiet and outwitting these monsters that hunt based on sound. There are a few close scenes of danger nearly catching up with them, but nothing like the remnants of the first film or second film for that matter. I don’t think the movie needed more characters, these characters work, but Sam’s journey is to visit a place in Harlem to get a slice of pizza to reconnect with her father who has died. Yeah, its understandable, but that is not a narrative that is going to keep the viewers entertained the entire 90 minutes.

There needed to be a bit more there. Like I loved seeing the aspect that these alien creatures were truly hunting the human race in this prequel. We didn’t get that in the first or second film. They wanted to eradicate the humans here and seeing how the government was aware that sound was being used to hunt and how the creatures would literally go after the loudest sounds ever was an intriguing element to the movie. The government used that sound to help New Yorkers get to the docks and get to a boat to safety.
Why you may ask? As we learned in the sequel, the aliens cannot swim and are dreadfully afraid of water.

There is a scene in the movie where the creatures are just grasping at the notion of wanting to attack humans on a boat but can’t get anywhere near that water because once in it, they’re done. It just showed the nasty nature of the creatures that could have been explored more I think by the writers in this go around. Nope, this is a tale about two strangers connecting and while fun, the stakes weren’t high enough for the spectator to care.

Sam is dying and she didn’t seem to care that aliens were hunting people who make sounds, and she decides to continue to roam a vacant NYC knowing the danger that is present. Who in their right mind would do so such a thing? I would not do it at all. Sorry, I have absolutely no interest in risking my life, but I guess for Sam considering she has nothing worth living for, and death was knocking at her door, why not?

“A Quiet Place: Day One” should have given more story to the audience than the slice of the past we received that wasn’t so exciting to begin with. The big question you have to ask is what did the prequel tell you that you didn’t already know? Exactly, I will wait for a response.