Warning! Contains spoilers for A Quiet Place: Day One.
Summary
- A Quiet Place: Day One introduces new characters and a prequel storyline, connecting to Part 2.
- The film retcons Part 2's teased boat attack, making the ending more personal for Sam and Eric.
- This decision ensures the film's focus remains on Sam and Eric's relationship and development.
A Quiet Place movies, A Quiet Place: Day One unfolds primarily as a standalone film. While it has a few subtle narrative connections with 2018's A Quiet Place and its direct sequel, the film etches its own identity in the franchise by introducing a new roster of compelling characters.
However, even though A Quiet Place: Day One primarily follows Lupita Nyong'o's Sam, Joseph Quinn's Eric, and Frodo the Cat, it introduces one character who bridges the gap between its narrative and its predecessors' future timeline. This character is Djimon Hounsou's Henri, who appears in a major arc in A Quiet Place Part 2. Strangely, though, Djimon Hounsou's Henri's appearance in A Quiet Place: Day One creates a storytelling plot hole, which, interestingly, makes the movie even better.
A Quiet Place Complete Timeline Explained
As the franchise continues to expand, A Quiet Place's timeline becomes more explored. We break down the movie's complete, chronological timeline.
A Quiet Place Part 2 Teased A Bigger Boat Attack Than Day One's Ending Showed
A Quiet Place: Day One Retcons Part 2's Teased Attack
As seen in A Quiet Place: Day One, humanity's first step to defend themselves against the aliens is to move to islands because the aliens cannot swim. In A Quiet Place Part 2, Djimon Hounsou's Henri reveals that many humans attempted to move out of the mainland using boats after the alien attacks. Unfortunately, even though 12 boats left the shore, only two eventually made it out. The alien attacks and the pandemonium caused by them prevent the others from leaving. This detail paints a gory and terrifying picture of the day of the departure of the boats.
In contrast, A Quiet Place: Day One presents a significantly different portrayal of the same event. While Henri and several other survivors gather in a boat to leave for a nearby island, Sam and Eric rush to it, hoping that Eric will get on board before it leaves. Realizing that Eric may make it, Sam distracts the aliens before Eric jumps into the water with Frodo in the nick of time. After Eric swims to the boat and gets rescued, the crew peacefully leaves the location without any complications, making the scenario far more hopeful and less chaotic than what Henri describes in A Quiet Place 2.
Why A Quiet Place: Day One's Ending Is Better Than What Part 2 Set Up
It Ensures The Film's Focus Remains On Sam & Eric
The story set up by A Quiet Place Part 2 would have been bigger in scale and perhaps even more visually spectacular. However, A Quiet Place: Day One makes the right decision by retconning it because its ending feels more personal for Eric and Sam. Throughout its runtime, it sheds light on Eric and Sam's motives in the post-apocalyptic world and walks viewers through all the events that help them get closer. Owing to this, Sam's sacrifice and Eric's survival towards the end seem way more cathartic and well-rounded than the one teased in A Quiet Place Part 2.
If A Quiet Place: Day One had portrayed a brutal alien attack on the boats, its ending would have been a little too grim.
If the film had ended with the story set up by the second A Quiet Place movie, it likely would not have had the time to focus entirely on the closing arc of Eric and Sam's relationship and development. Not to mention, the film's ending would have also been incredibly bleak if it had maintained narrative consistency with A Quiet Place Part 2. The prequel, anyway, concludes on a bittersweet note when Sam sacrifices herself to ensure Frodo and Eric's survival. If A Quiet Place: Day One had portrayed a brutal alien attack on the boats, its ending would have been a little too grim.
A Quiet Place: Day One is a spin-off of the A Quiet Place franchise conceived by John Krasinski. The film is set at the beginning of the invasion as humanity scrambles to survive, before the events of the original film, with Lupita Nyong'O leading the cast, directed by Michael Sarnoski.
- Cast
- Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, Eliane Umuhire
- Runtime
- 99 Minutes
- Director
- Michael Sarnoski
- Writers
- Michael Sarnoski
- Franchise(s)
- A Quiet Place
- Studio(s)
- Paramount Pictures, Platinum Dunes, Sunday Night Productions
- Distributor(s)
- Paramount Pictures
- Main Genre
- Horror
