By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Some moviegoers absolutely love to be scared, frightened out of their wits. If so, the dystopian horror thriller “A Quiet Place” is for you.
Emily Blunt and her husband John Krasinski play Evelyn and Lee Abbott, a married couple, living on a secluded farm in upstate New York. It’s Day 89 — after most of the civilized world has been decimated by an alien invasion of hideously hungry creatures who detect their prey by supersensitive sound.
Knowing that silence is absolutely essential to survival, the Abbotts are determined to protect their three young children: Beau (Cade Woodward), Regan (Millicent Smmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe).
Regan is deaf, so they communicate primarily through sign language with only occasional whispers. And when — just for an instant — their vigilance fails, tragedy occurs.
Amid the constant peril, Lee is desperately trying to locate other survivors and devise an effective hearing-aid for adolescent Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who always feels a bit neglected.
FYI: Deaf in real life, expressive Ms. Simmonds scored solidly last year in “Wonderstruck.”
As time goes on, Evelyn must cope with the complications of pregnancy — like planning to make use of a soundproofed barn bunker for the birth and a tiny oxygen mask to stifle the newborn’s cries.
But things don’t often go as planned, particularly in cases like this, when stepping on a rusty nail can prove as deadly as an explosive device.
It’s a tour-de-force for actor/producer/director John Krasinski, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. Working with cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen and composer Marco Beltrami, Krasinski cleverly employs the absence of sound to intensify the relentless terror.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “A Quiet Place” is an eerie, angst-riddled 8, an unsettling, totally different kind of creature feature.
If “A Quiet Place” could be considered sublime horror, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new monster movie “Rampage,” based on a 1986 arcade game, falls into the ridiculous category.
Back in 1993, there was breakthrough bioengineering technology, known as CRISPR, which gave scientists a way to treat incurable diseases through genetic editing. In 2016, fearing its misuse, the U.S. Intelligence Community designated genetic editing a “Weapon of Mass Destruction and Proliferation.”
Cut to the explosion of an American spaceship. Its cargo was a genome experiment gone awry, and three CRISPR vials fall to earth, much to the consternation of nefarious brother-and-sister execs (Malin Akerman/Jake Lacy) at a Chicago company called Energyne.
At San Diego Wildlife Preserve, primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson), who prefers animals to people, has formed a strong bond with an albino silverback gorilla named George that he rescued from poachers and with whom he communicates in sign language.
Suddenly, overnight, once-docile George becomes hyperaggressive and grows to gigantic proportions. Obviously, he’s become infected by a pathogen from one of the vials. And there are two other mutations: an agile 30-foot-long Rocky Mountain wolf and an immense Everglades crocodile.
These enhanced predators wreak terror and destruction on Chicago, where an Energyne sonar beacon beckons them — with Okoye and former Energyne scientist Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) trying to administer an antidote to George as a wily government agent (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) runs interference.
BTW: George isn’t just CGI. He’s based on 6-foot-9 motion capture performer Jason Liles, joining mo-cap actors like Andy Serkis (“Planet of the Apes”) and Doug Jones (“The Shape of Water”).
Collaboratively scripted by Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal and Adam Sztykiel, it’s formulaically directed by Brad Peyton (“San Andreas”). And, apparently, Johnson wields enough clout to insist that the original sad ending be more optimistic.
On the Granger Gauge, “Rampage” rumbles in with a foolish 5, it’s Godzilla on steroids.
Charismatic Jon Hamm (TV’s “Mad Men”) is such a good actor that it’s a shame his considerable talents are wasted on “Beirut,” a disjointed political thriller, set in war-torn Lebanon in 1982.
Hamm plays Mason Skiles, a top U.S. diplomat, happily married to Nadia (Leila Bekhti) and living in Beirut. Having no children of their own, they’ve taken in Karim (Yoav Sadian Rosenberg), a 13 year-old Palestinian refugee, treating him like “part of the family.”
At a cocktail party, Mason discovers that Karim’s older brother, Abu Rajal (Hicham Ouraqa), is suspected in the Israeli massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and Mossad agents want to question Karim.
Without warning, Karim’s brother and his terrorist cohorts barge in, guns blazing and grab Karim. Nadia is killed in the chaos, and Mason is bereft.
Cut to Boston 10 years later. Perpetually depressed Mason has become a union negotiator and a bona fide alcoholic. One night in bar, he’s approached with an offer he cannot refuse.
His close friend/CIA colleague Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino) is being held hostage by now-grown Karim (Idir Chender), who demands the return of his brother from the Israelis.
But the Israelis don’t have his brother, forcing Skiles to deal with the PLO. Milling around are three other key players: cultural attaché Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike), CIA agent Donald Gaines (Dean Norris), and the Embassy’s Gary Ruzak (Shea Whigham). Each has his/her own agenda.
Jon Hamm’s bleary Mason Skiles is totally believable, even if the convoluted plot isn’t — perhaps because it’s based on a 27 year-old script, written by Tony Gilroy (“Bourne” franchise), and loosely inspired by CIA Station Chief William Buckley’s 1984 kidnapping.
Director Brad Anderson (“The Machinist”) and editor Andrew Hafitz seem unable to twist the pieces together coherently, and the lighting is so dark and murky that it looks as if it was filmed in a bunker, making it difficult to distinguish one actor from another.
On the Granger Gauge, “Beirut” is a frustrating 4, losing suspense along the way.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
