IF

The premise is its problem. Because this script focuses so strongly on suspension of disbelief, such as comes naturally to a child, it gets lost in that focus and expects a child’s reaction from everyone in the audience—even the adults who are watching with a substantially more critical eye. That primal flaw spawns others, including a weak storyline that renders much of the movie a pastiche of loosely related scenes that have more cutesy to them than anything else. You get the sense that the filmmakers expect the viewer to look at the imaginary characters (such as Steve Carrel's Blue) and think, “He’s delightful,” when in reality the reaction is more like, “He’s annoying.” Meanwhile, the main plot point is so telegraphed that when the crisis arrives, you’ve already seen it coming a mile away—and then the story chickens out and doesn’t follow through to the logical—but probably too upsetting for the target audience—conclusion. And the twist at the end is predictable, too—otherwise, you wouldn’t have spent most of the running time wondering just what was the deal with that character anyway. (That twist is also a gigantic violation of the story’s own rules, which indicates a lack of attention to detail.) Really, much of these proceedings feel like cheap setups to produce cheap, unearned sentiment. Perhaps all that’s just my cynicism talking. For sure, John Krasinski has made better and more interesting films in the past, and he has built a reserve of goodwill from previous works, so I don’t want to be too harsh; it would be churlish to direct a hiss towards what is essentially a children’s movie (though one I’m not sure a lot of kids would actually enjoy it, even with its bevy of CGI characters). I’ll leave this one in MEOW territory, and let myself imagine that it deserves that such credit.

A Quiet Place Part II

The interesting—or, if you prefer, scary—subtext of this sequel: the government today is so screwed up that, if an invasion of alien monsters ever happens, we should expect no coordinated, effective response from authorities. We’ll all be on our own. Such is the story depicted here. That "Part 2" part of the title is legit; excepting a flashback prologue, this movie stands as a near direct continuation of the events of the first film. Though this flick comes with a few quibbles—mostly around the standard horror-film trope of people doing things they obviously shouldn’t do—for the most part this work succeeds in keeping the tale moving, the scenario interesting, and the frights coming at a just-right pace. Eventually, this storyline will burn itself out if it spawns too many sequels, but if they stop at a third ‘conclusion’ part of the story, that would be perfectly acceptable—not something worth shouting about, perhaps, but probably worthy of somewhat muted (but legitimate) enthusiasm.

Detroit

This is a film that tests your patience, then rewards it. It's hard to know where it's going at first; the mixture of documentary style presentation along with dramatic scenes of the 1967 Detroit riots makes the direction of the work seem general and unfocused. Early sequences are more of a pastiche of scenes rather than a cohesive narrative--and yours truly has never been a fan of the pastiche approach. But stay with it: the very disparate threads eventually come together into a long examination of the events at the Algiers Motel, and that's where the unfocused film turns riveting. (Bigelow's strength as a director seems to be in presenting intense interactions.) Once the movie gets rolling there, it's an absorbing story all the way to the end. Definitely worth a look, and worth thinking about after the credits roll.

A Quiet Place

Viscerally, well done. Intellectually, I'm not so sure. It seems like these characters make huge mistakes all along, from the very opening scene. Perhaps part of the idea is to present the case that living without the normal cacaphony of everyday life is nigh on impossible--that life without the ability to clearly and directly communicate is hardly life at all. Maybe (though I sure would like some of the people in my neighborhood to give it a shot). Also, there are inherent contradictions in what's presented; that is, both a family life that is tremendously stripped down, and then at the same time filled with certain elaborate structures and schemes. It all may look good on screen, but it doesn't necessarily pass suspension of belief.  The intent to make a different and breakthrough work comes through loud and clear--but actual success in that vein barely rises above a whisper.