Lupita Nyong’o stunned as Helen of Troy in "The Odyssey," but if you ask me, one of her best performances to date is in the underrated prequel "A Quiet Place: Day One." Now I'm goin and getting a big head because it crashed the Netflix Top 10 less than 24 hours after being added. Of the 39 new Netflix movies this month, this deserves the top spot on your watchlist.
It's rare for a spin-off to stack up to the original series, but this one manages to hit all the right notes, with terrifying monsters, tense sequences where no one dares make a sound, and a protagonist you can't help but root for.
That last one is what really sold me on "Day One." Nyong'o delivers a masterful performance, and her chemistry with Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps") forms the beating heart of "Day One." It's less a monster movie and more an enduring message about survival and what we owe each other. The prequel also broke box office records for the series, earning $261.8 million worldwide and a respectable 86% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For the fellow "A Quiet Place" fans wondering whether the prequel stacks up, I can confidently say that it does. Still unconvinced? Here's everything you need to know about "A Quiet Place: Day One." And if you're wondering what else in the Netflix Top 10 is worth watching, I've got you covered.
What is 'A Quiet Place: Day One' about?
As you might have already guessed from the name, "Day One" follows the beginning of the end: when the franchise's signature alien creatures with an acute sense of hearing first descended on Earth. The first two "A Quiet Place" movies took place after the invasion was already well underway, forcing what's left of humanity into quiet, splintered communities to survive. Outside of the brief flashback that kicks off "A Quiet Place 2," we haven't seen too much of those chaotic first moments until "Day One."
Set in New York City, "Day One" starts with a statistic that comes back to haunt us: the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple has an average noise level of 90 decibels, equal to that of a constant human scream. Cryptic.
Nyong’o stars as Samira, a cancer patient at a hospice center just outside the city who wants nothing more than to be left alone to die on her terms. Determined to get her out of her funk is her charming nurse Reuben (Alex Wolff), who promises a stop at her favorite pizza place if she joins their field trip to the city, her emotional support cat Frodo in tow.
Naturally, that's when all hell breaks loose. A blind alien species with a heightened sense of hearing begins tearing through the city. Samira and Reuben huddle with dozens of survivors in a dead silent theater.
With the world ending, the window for her to get that slice of za is shrinking. She decides to risk it all on a journey to get what she was promised, setting out with Frodo on foot for Harlem and, along the way, running into a fellow survivor (Quinn) who helps her realize there may still be things worth fighting for.
Watch "A Quiet Place: Day One" on Netflix now.
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