The Silence

To start things off I saw A Quiet Place and rather enjoyed, It was refreshing and original. Then came a similarly themed Bird Box on Netflix and I thought that was OK and watchable, Now comes The Silence, A Quiet Place wannabe that just doesn't have the oomph or pinache of the original. It had some good moments but were too few and far between. One problem I had with both A Quiet Place and The Silence is the premise that humans are too inept and powerless to keep from becoming prey/food for the creatures. They're attracted to sound so why not set up some humongous speakers and amps in an empty stadium or city, crank it up and get all those suckers to gather there, then have an an F-22 drop a tactical nuke on them and blow them all to kingdom come. Hell, they did that to the aliens in Alien vs Predator:Requiem. They can do that in these movies too.

The machine must be fed - The Silence is an okay movie made for a mass audience, and as all those pay-channels and whatever channels need "stuff" to air, the need for an endless stream of new shows and movies is great. This simply results to that immense output of mediocre to underachieving movies/shows: quantity rules our days and not quality.

Anyway, with the same cast and the same production but a better and more careful composed script and directing, this movie could have been a really good one.

The Silence: only recommendable for the aficionado of the genre (post-apocalypse with alien/monsters), and only if you really got nothing else on the plate.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Some deadly bats, with the ability to overpower and kill humans, have escaped from their enclave, and have their sights set on taking over the world. Hugh Andrews (Stanley Tucci) must protect his family, including his daughter Ally (Kiernan Shipka) who suffers from acute deafness, and needs to communicate in sign language, which comes in handy since the terrifying flying beasts react most forcefully to sound.

Horror has become a genre as largely manufactured as pop music these days, an original idea an occasional bonus, secondary to cheap CGI and jump scares. And so, the recent theatrically released A Quiet Place, divided opinion, a creative premise at least, in spite of its outlandishness. Its certainly that film that first springs to mind when presented with The Silence, despite also being a hodgepodge of other such films in the cultural consciousness, including The Mist and Cloverfield.

Despite arriving in its shadow, I'd still consider The Silence the better film between it and AQP. It at least establishes something in the way of human connection with the main characters, and takes the time to develop them in an effective way, meaning we care about them more. Its also easier to digest some flying, killer bats than it is giant, spider like things. Performances wise, Tucci is sturdy and reliable in the lead, strongly supported by Shipka in the crucial role as his deaf daughter.

It's impressive and effective, for a film that manages to cram it all into ninety minutes. While not a perfect film, its certainly a huge step up from a guy whose directorial debut was Mortal Kombat: Annihilation! ***

A lot of people are saying this is a rip off of A Quiet Place... that is totally incorrect actually. If anything A Quiet Place and Birdbox ripped off the premise from the 2015 book The Silence by Tim Lebbon. Do some research people, there have been numerous articles that state as much.

As far as the movie... a middle of the road decent time killer, it held my interest. It could have been much more in the right hands. I thought the acting was on par with the material the actors had to work with. CGI was lax and the situations the family found themselves in could have been orchestrated to be much more complex and dramatized. This is why A Quiet Place excelled.

People try entirely too hard to figure out what's wrong with a movie rather than just enjoy it. Don't go into every movie expecting it to be the best movie ever and perhaps you won't be so disappointed. Few movies deserve a 1 or 2 rating, just as few as deserve a 9 or 10.

Based on the concept I was rather surprised that Netflix would venture into material so similiar to one of their other films (A Quiet Place) and so shockingly fast. I can however say this is a different movie altogether, though not really in good way.

Early on I was gripped, fantastically made and looking film where Tucci is on the best form I've seen him since The Lovely Bones (2009). This I thought was going to be something really special, but alas the quality dipped pretty hardcore in the last act.

It tells the story of small winged creatures that begin to besiege the world in a near apocalyptic event. They respond only to sound so the trick is silence (See where the Quiet Place comparison comes in?). The film follows a family surviving in this world, led by father Tucci and daughter played by Kiernan "Sabrina" Shipka.

The cast deliver, the sfx are passable and the whole thing is well constructed but religion takes the stage and ruins the film. Despite being a near theocratic nation I'm still amazed how critical Hollywood usually is over religion and The Silence is no different. It takes a hyper realistic angle here with the religious's interpretation of the incident and it's positively chilling because it's so very believable.

I wish they hadn't gone down that route, though realistic it made for uncomfortable viewing and led the movie to a satisfying yet sudden and rather incomplete finale.

The Silence should/could have been an outstanding film but instead came out as a real disappointment.

The Good:

Tucci is on top form

Some solid ideas

The Bad:

Certain flaws in logic and consistency

Goes in an uncomfortable direction