A Quiet Place: Day One

Synopsis: An ill young woman and her cat attempt to survive an alien invasion. (Streaming on Amazon Prime)

Does the cat live? That was my question for A Quiet Place: Day One. It was a spoiler I had to look up. No way was I going to devote an hour and a half to worrying over and cheering on a little feline, only for them to be gobbled up by an alien.

What about the humans? you might ask. Well, somehow, I’m able to keep in mind that the people onscreen are actors. In the case of QP1, we have Lupita Nyong’o (Academy Award winner for Twelve Years a Slave) as Sam, a woman with terminal cancer. Joseph Quinn (Eddie in Stranger Things) is Eric, a law student from England.

Sam has a cat who lives at a hospice with her. Kitty’s character is Frodo, played by two cats, Schnitzel and Nico. The cats acquit themselves beautifully in the role: sprightly in the action scenes, expressive in their closeups.

Quiet Place: Day One is a prequel to the original QP stories, which take place quite a while after the invasion. All is well as this story begins, or status quo, at least. Life goes along at a fast pace in the NYC/NYC area. But for Sam, life’s pace has slowed as disease takes over her body. She’s in a hospice in the NY metro area.

When we meet Sam, she’s none too pleased to be part of a group therapy session headed by a compassionate nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff). But she perks up when she’s given the chance to be part of a group that’s going into the city to see a show. She boards a bus with Reuben and the others. Her cat, Frodo, comes along with her as well. Like the hobbit of the same name, Frodo is exceptional. Most cats do not want to leave their home territory. And especially not to head into a noisy city for a damned show. But Frodo is chill.

Things are scary from the start of the show, but not because of aliens. The show isn’t a Broadway spectacular, but a marionette show. Of course, the wooden-faced automatons are creepy, and the story-line–such as it is– finds the puppet forlorn. Just what these hospice patients need.

Wisely, Sam sneaks out with her cat tucked into a travel bag. Sam is on a mission, she wants to travel uptown to Patsy’s, a pizzeria in Harlem. Then…

All hell breaks loose. Suddenly, bear-sized aliens are rampaging all over the city. Their bodies are arthropod-like, with ginormous jaws, chockfull of gnashing knifey teeth. And unlike our known apex predators, like grizzlies and tigers, they are not magnificent-looking. And there is no way these hideous creatures could’ve been cute as infants, unlike, say, cute baby gators with their round little faces and yellow-striped bodies. Somehow, being chased by ugly monsters seems scarier than being chased by a beautiful predator.

So, it seems that the aliens can’t see at all, which would be great for everyone running away from them, except that they have super-sensitive hearing to  navigate by. The loudspeaker announcements over Manhattan, notify desperate survivors that the aliens can’t swim. So, yes, go ahead and take your chances jumping into the surrounding polluted waters. Afterall, giardia and e. coli are better ways to go than being bitten in half.

Sam is caught in the mayhem and her cat gets loose. Cats are quite in touch with the primitive instincts of fight, flight, flee or freeze; so, Frodo seems to have a decent chance of survival. Also, it seems like the aliens might have a taste for humans versus other animals.

It got me wondering about these creatures. How far away did they come from and how did they know that they’d find human beings palatable? What if they had traveled through solar systems only to find that human flesh gave them terrible indigestion?

Now, I know that the storyline is needling us with the question: Sam won’t live much longer anyway, so where does her will to live come from? Well, that’s obvi! No one wants to be killed and eaten!  Isn’t this what vegetarians have been telling everyone for years?

US armed forces are on the scene, also getting picked off by the lightning-fast aliens. Announcements are made from helicopters: Remain quiet. Easier said than done what with hordes of monsters hunting everyone. There would be lots of screaming and swearing. But Sam stays quiet and shelters in the theater with other terrified people. She sees a man (Djimon Hounson) with his son who were at the show. He tries to assist Sam while guarding his son.

Sam heads out, but not to South Street Seaport where survivors are heading to board boats to– hopefully– evacuate to safer zones. She wants that pizza. Well, if you are looking for a last meal, it may as well be one of humanity’s greatest meal inventions.

Sneaking along with Sam, kitty chases mousies and scavenges a pigeon. Yuck! But to be fair, this fare would be certainly easier on their tums than pepperoni pizza.

Whoosh! Up from a flooded subway station pops Eric (J. Quinn). Now, this would’ve been a good hiding space since the aliens can’t swim, except for the fact that human bodies can’t extract oxygen from water. I was afraid that the aliens would discover pool floaties and noodles and make their way to the escape boats.

Sam is temporarily startled by the man, but it’s kitty who takes an interest in  him. I think they could tell that he was a kind soul and might come in handy in opening cans of tuna as Sam becomes increasingly weakened.

Eric seems to be in shock as he follows Sam & cat. Sam tries to shoo the man away towards South Street Seaport. Instead, he follows. Later, Sam and Eric whisper to each other. He’s a law student from England. If he had watched Dwayne Johnson’s movie, San Andreas, he would’ve known that posh young Englishmen should stay put on their island. You see, in that movie, a toff (though, ironically, a decent human being) leaves England to interview for an engineering job in California, land of earthquakes. Before you know it, he’s bungling around injuring himself post-earthquake. Back to our movie…

During a thunderstorm, Sam and Eric take the opportunity to quietly talk as the thunder provides audio cover. “This wasn’t part of the plan,” he confides. No kidding! Buying marmite abroad, you can plan for, but not evading a first-ever alien invasion. Amazingly enough though, he does make himself useful.

Sam needs analgesics, but becomes too incapacitated by pain to move. Eric, although hit by periodic panic attacks (understandably!), bravely sets out for a pharmacy. I hope he doesn’t need laundry detergent, because that stuff is kept under lock and key in plexiglass safes.

Watching Eric carefully pick through the streets, I was hoping he’d also pick up some other practical items at the pharmacy like magazines and candy to pass the time whilst sheltering–nothing loud like crispy choco bars, of course. Oh, and some Dreamies treats for kitty.

Ultimately, Sam realizes that she has more to do at the end of her life than get a slice of pizza; she’s determined to save her cat and her new companion, Eric. The film moves well from full-out action to quiet suspense.

After watching QP: Day 1, I vowed not to complain about the trash, rats or tormenting temperatures of the subway platforms anymore. It’s all better than aliens coming for us. Except for marionette shows, those are terrifying.

P.S. Does the cat, Frodo, live? Well…I did watch the movie, didn’t I? Click here for more on the cats.

Movie Loon Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:  B

Cut to the Chase: Very good CGI. Limited ability to build characters due to lack of dialog, but Lupita Nyong’o and Jospeh Quinn are effective. And the cats are awesome as Frodo.

Humor Highlight:  How kitty navigates the invasion landscape in a cool-eyed and practical fashion.