Saw this movie and was confused as to why it's been getting such good reviews. It has an interesting premise, but it's replete with inconsistencies and idiocies.
First thing that's hard to believe, where is the government? I don't care what sort of armor these creatures have, we have intercontinental ballistic missiles. You know that they're immediately attracted to sound. Blast some metalcore in some remote area, wait for a ton of them to come, then nuke 'em. Or, have a drone blaring out the Numa Numa song over a volcano. No weakness? Their weakness is nuclear warheads.
While still on the topic of the aliens, how in the world can they navigate the world (running through the forest, walking through a house including stairs), but they can't find prey unless the prey specifically makes noise? Stupid.
And the creatures can tear through a silo wall in under a second, but can only superficially wound an old truck? The aliens move really fast...unless they're near a main character. Then they slowly stalk around. More examples of creating rules then ignoring them, which just makes for a shoddy story.
Has no one coughed? No snoring, sneezing, farting, burping, tripping and falling, toe stubbing (they are going barefoot), choking on food? How do they farm (especially harvesting) or build things (can't use hammers or saws)? Where are they getting all this electricity? Generators are super loud, and they require fuel (making fuel is a loud process). It's especially hard to believe the deaf girl hasn't accidentally made some noise at some point. They try not to make creaking noises while walking in the house, but houses, especially old ones, make noises all the time. They put sand everywhere. Does it never rain there?
John Krasinski shows his son you can shout if there's a louder noise. Why don't they move next to a huge river or waterfall? Or find a holm in the middle of a river? Or try and find an underground bunker? Or at least move somewhere with carpet! Why not have speakers in the forest constantly playing loud sounds, perhaps even switching which speaker is playing before the creatures arrive, sending them into a never-ending sprint? I mean, they do have access to unlimited electricity. No, the only possibility is some rockets that last less than a minute and your child has to set of by hand.
I hate movies where the conflict is based off stupidity. Instead of saying, hey, let's try and keep ourselves and our current children alive, the main characters decide, let's have an effing baby. A BABY. A machine that only produces excrement and noise. Are you gonna keep it in that box for four years?
For how important silence is, they really give their little kid a long leash at the start of the movie. Another conflict based on stupidity. If they were truly worried about their lives, they would police that kid a lot more. Also, when the kid has the loud rocket, Krasinski is sprinting, making lots of noise with his feet. Why does the creature only attack the kid? Why don't more creatures come?
The nail. When Emily Blunt snags her bag on the nail, it catches the head. She pulls it, and somehow it switches to the point sticking up? What?
Okay, that's plot inconsistencies, now I'll touch on a couple technical issues. The beginning took way too long. It establishes pretty quickly that you can't make noise. Half an hour later...we're still going over the fact that you can't make noise. C'mon, assume a little more intelligence in the viewer.
Jump scares are lowbrow horror, and this movie was full of them. Worse, the majority of them were fake-outs. I'm convinced the bloody hand jump scare was an inside joke put in by Krasinski haha. It's just way too cliché otherwise.
Like I said, interesting concept. I liked that it was a family too. Emily Blunt's acting during the labor/birth scene was phenomenal. But way too many inconsistencies to call it a good movie. I think a lot of people are conflating their feelings for the actors' past work with the quality of the film in question.
