Originally published to 8 News Now on June 27, 2024.

For this, the third installment of the “A Quiet Place” franchise, the first not to be directed by John Krasinski, the now-familiar world of A Quiet Place goes back to the beginning, to the first day that the extraterrestrial attackers invaded Earth. However, this addition to the horror-thriller franchise purports to be a bigger, beefier story than its independent predecessors but feels smaller in many ways.

It could not be strongly enough stated how vital sign language was to the way the first film played out on-screen. Here, it is sorely missed. After the creatures invade, we mostly get mouthed words and, when lucky, written text, usually via pen on paper. Unfortunately, you can’t turn on closed captioning in a movie theater. While whispering and written words can be effective, they often create a samey, repetitive experience that works more as a barrier to emotionally engaging with the characters.

Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn should be credited for creating a connection, even with those handicaps. They are outstanding in “Day One,” with Nyong’o as Sam providing a raw, authentic depiction of her character that, along with the cinematography, quickly draws the viewer into her struggle. Quinn’s Eric, while mostly reactive, is a charming counterpart to Sam, and together they carry the film mostly, although the real star of “A Quiet Place: Day One” has paws and whiskers.

Sam’s cat, Frodo (you get it,) performed by Nico and Schnitzel, is one of the most memorable on-screen pets in recent memory. He’s a constant presence and source of anxiety in “Day One.” I, personally, can’t wait to find out how much of Frodo’s performance was CG and how much a trained feline was physically on set. That will make for a fascinating Corridor Crew VFX Artists React episode, should that happen. Somehow, Frodo becomes a third lead in “Day One,” and it’s for the best.

Fantastic performances from Nyongo, Quinn, Frodo, Pat Scola, the film’s cinematographer, and the team behind “Day One’s” visceral look are all hampered by a screenplay that never entirely lives up to the potential promised in its first act. Once the aliens invade, most of the character work fades to the background in favor of an aggravating number of jump scares and apocalyptic thriller tropes we’ve seen a million times before.

Ultimately, despite some excellent performances, “Day One” feels more like a run-of-the-mill disaster thriller than a further take on the groundbreaking and fresh-feeling world of “A Quiet Place” we were introduced to in 2018.