Is A Quiet Place: Day One the Best Romance

(Warning: Spoilers below for A Quiet Place: Day One)

Instalove is one of the most common accusations hurled at the romance genre. It’s not reasonable to believe that two characters can meet and fall in love so quickly. You might have seen Disney, who is often guilty of this cliche, also mock it in Frozen or Enchanted.

But the criticism isn’t valid for all instalove stories. Sometimes writers do get it right. Usually, that entails showcasing extreme circumstances in the characters’ lives or outside events (or both) that would facilitate creating so swift a bond in so short a time.

Turns out, the ability to a create quick and believable relationship between two characters isn’t unique to romances.

I loved the first movie in the Quiet Place series. (I was one of those people in the audience who had bought popcorn but didn't dare eat it because that would be too LOUD.) But I wasn’t a fan of the second movie, A Quiet Place: Part 2. Because of that, I wasn’t excited or planning to see the third movie, A Quiet Place: Day One.

But the urge to go out and watch a summer blockbuster one night led me to the movie theater. (And to the concession stand to buy popcorn, because I didn’t learn my lesson the first time.)

I’m so glad I did.

I have to point out, though, that the trailer for Day One was a little misleading. It implied that the main character’s goal was to come up with a plan to help a ragtag band of survivors escape New York City after an alien attack. Maybe even fight the aliens?

Wrong.

The goal of the main character, Sam (played by Lupita Nyong’o), was to…get pizza.

Sound crazy? Yep. Did it work? Also, yep.

Also, how brilliant is that idea?

Sam had given up on surviving a long time ago. But now, in the wake of an alien attack, she must not only rescue herself, but a hapless, kind-hearted law student, Eric (played by Joseph Quinn), who is having a pretty rough time navigating the apocalypse.

Through the course of the movie, the writers/director/actors showed us how these two characters both believably faced something they feared to help the other. The journey was heartwarming, heartbreaking and, in several scenes, terrifying.

Day One is about the best of humanity on its worst day.

My favorite scene in this monster movie didn’t have any monsters. It didn’t even have dialogue since sound is how the aliens find you. It’s just Sam and Eric, realizing their goal of going to a specific pizzeria to eat pizza isn’t possible, and what they then do with that knowledge. Because there’s no dialogue, all communication between them is carried out through body language and facial expressions. It’s so good.

And that’s why Day One is the most romantic movie of the summer. Not because there was romantic love in it, but because it achieved the elusive goal many romances fail at. It created a beautiful bond between two people in a matter of days that led to the ultimate act of bravery.

If you’re still not convinced you should watch it, I’ll give you another reason. The cat survives the apocalypse. (My cat would not.)

Life Hack: It pays to be quiet and not skittish around loud noises and alien predators.