10
Thursday, June 3, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTS
“A Quiet Place Part II” struggles in comparison to its predecessor
Album Review: Bruiser Brigade - TV62
After over a year-long break
from movie theaters, I went to see
“A Quiet Place Part II,” thoroughly
expecting my first foray back into the
theater to be an enjoyable experience.
Unfortunately, “A Quiet Place Part II”
disappointed.
To be fair, I had high expectations.
The first film was thrilling (even to
someone like me who usually can’t
handle scary movies and jump scares).
Writer and director John Krasinski
(“The Office”) had a lot of interesting
reasons to make a sequel and I wanted
more than anything to have my first
back-in-the-theaters film blow my
mind.
But “A Quiet Place Part II” just
seemed to be missing something —
and I’m pretty sure that missing piece
was John Krasinski’s character, Lee.
The film opened with a flashback
from before the events of the first film,
which captured my attention quickly.
Having seen the first film and knowing
all too well the importance of sound
and silence, I was hyper-aware of every
single noise I heard in the film — Lee’s
footsteps, the rustling of a plastic bag,
the hum of the news on a television,
the sounds of an idyllic kids’ baseball
game. I was enthralled by this scene
that seemed to be the antithesis of “A
Quiet Place”’s dark, muted tones and
nearly complete silence. Too quickly,
though, the film reverted back to
where the end of the first film left off —
with Lee’s family trekking through the
woods in silence and trying to survive
the attacks of the monsters (or aliens?)
that were attracted to sound.
In many ways, this film was too
similar to the first, making it feel like an
unnecessary addition or extension of a
film that ended on a pretty good note.
On top of that, the characters were
too unbelievable, making it easy to fall
out of the film’s world. Evelyn (Emily
Blunt, “Mary Poppins Returns”)
is still a caring mother in an awful
situation, trying to help her kids in the
best way she can. However, she makes
decisions that are completely out of
character for a mother putting her
children first. Her eldest son, Marcus
(Noah Jupe, “Wonder”) is as timid as
he was in the first film, but seemed to
make worse decisions than he had in
“A Quiet Place,” including leaving his
baby sibling alone in order to explore
his new ‘home.’ Regan (Millicent
Simmonds, “Wonderstruck”) struck
out on her own to try to save her
family (although it’s not made entirely
clear how she planned to do that).
Simmonds’s performance, enhanced
by her communication through sign
language, is moving, just as it was in
the original film, but her character’s
flawed
decision-making
made
it
difficult to pay attention to anything
else.
Finally, the new addition to the
“Quiet Place” cast, Emmett (Cillian
Murphy, “Inception”) is perhaps
the most confusing part of the
film. Presumably present to fill
John Krasinski’s character’s shoes,
Emmett tries to help the struggling
family survive. But his character’s
inconsistencies are too difficult to
ignore; he starts out willing to sacrifice
the family for his own benefit and safety,
and ends up being Regan’s greatest
ally. The shift in character comes too
quickly and thus feels unrealistic and
unbelievable. Murphy’s performance
as Emmet is good — commendable,
even — but the role was written in
a way that made it difficult for the
audience to garner any sympathy for
him or see him as anything more than
a poor man’s substitute for Krasinski’s
heartfelt performance as Lee.
If you enjoy the suspense and jump
scares that a film like “A Quiet Place”
offers, you’ll probably enjoy the sequel
whilst watching it. But the second
the credits start rolling and you start
actually thinking about what you just
watched, it all falls to pieces.
In all honesty, this film didn’t need
to be made. Perhaps the anticipation
that the film’s various release dates
created made people’s expectations
even higher, ensuring that any version
of “A Quiet Place Part II” would fall flat,
but I can’t help but think that with the
way the first film ended, any attempt to
continue the storyline and expand the
universe would end on a sour note.
Detroit-based rap group Bruiser
Brigade are virtuosos of immersive
hip-hop. Led by rapper Danny
Brown since 2012, the collective
weaves the narratives of what may
appear to be disparate musical
talents into a thoroughly enjoyable
listening experience.
On
their
sophomore
album,
TV62, released earlier this month on
Bandcamp, the group continues to
flex their knack for storytelling. The
16-track amalgamation of Detroit
hip-hop veterans and rising stars
alike teems with humor and biting
tales of hard-edged upbringings and
life experiences. Following their first
unofficial album, Reign Supreme,
streamed in 2018 exclusively on
the gaming platform Twitch, TV62
welcomes back old talents from its
previous project like Danny Brown,
Fat Ray and ZelooperZ, while
opening the door to newer features
like J.U.S and Bruiser Wolf. Unlike
Reign Supreme, which incorporated
Brown’s iconic animated flow on
almost every song, Bruiser Brigade’s
latest album takes on a more even-
handed distribution of airtime. Yet
the group’s dedication to painting
vivid portraits of Detroit street
life and the city’s storied cultural
richness remains unchanged.
In its opening clip, TV62 begins
with an audio snippet from a
WGPR-TV
announcement,
the
first Black-owned TV station in
the United States, based in Detroit
and serving as the inspiration for
the project’s title. The following
track, “The Dopest in the Building,”
follows Bruiser Wolf and his trials
with drugs and poverty. Wolf’s
delivery may be cartoonish, but
his subject matter is anything but.
He details the cyclic nature of
drug dealing and addiction with a
sunny timbre, quipping, “Product
of my environment / Victim of
circumstance / Supply it if you buy
it, from bricks to grams.”
Although arguably the most
vocally similar to Brown, Wolf
etches
out
his
own
path
of
unorthodox delivery nonetheless.
Wolf brings his sharp wit to the
table as well, supplying some of the
funnier lines on the album. On the
track “Your Gone,” he references a
sinister yet memorable Michigan
news story from last year, rapping,
“plottin’on a white girl like them
guys that tried to kidnap Whitmer.”
Wolf’s dark repartee and balanced
staccato mannerisms separate him
from his peers, further reinforcing
Bruiser Brigade’s ability to shine
light on its individual talents without
sacrificing the connectedness of the
wider project.
Fat Ray, a seasoned professional
in Detroit’s underground rap scene,
delivers his own distinctive flow on
tracks like “Superhero” and “Juice.”
With
a
more
straightforward
delivery,
Ray’s
smooth
babble
mirrors the classic narrative-heavy
nature of ‘90s hip-hop, a contrast
that works surprisingly well with the
more experimental idiosyncrasies of
Brown and ZelooperZ.
On the tracks “Dylon,” “Welfare”
and “The Ends,” Danny Brown
reminds the listener of his ability
to deliver masterfully weird and
often
crude
commentary.
The
entire project drips with Brown’s
avant
garde
instrumentation
style, with clear parallels to his
sixth and most recent solo release,
uknowhatimsayin¿. Perhaps one of
these moments unique to Brown on
the album is the final track, “The
Ends,” which can only be explained
as Renaissance Faire meets sleek
hip-hop funk — who knew a flute
could go so hard?
Brown collects an executive
production credit on TV62, and
there’s no doubt that his influence
seeps into the project’s sonic
developments
as
well
as
the
establishment
of
the
Brigade’s
physical body of members. Yet
Brown is not the singular voice
shining on the album, making it
clear to the listener that Bruiser
Brigade is very much a collective
effort.
Intermittent clips of laughter and
lively conversation among Brigade
members throughout the project
only adds to the obvious chemistry
between the artists. It’s as if the
listeners have been welcomed into
the studio themselves, the mic
traveling around in a circle to catch
energetic freestyles and raunchy
jokes alike. Afterall, a group that
could think of the line, “All my
rules scientific, bitch feed me Fig
Newtons,” has to have some kind
of wildly entertaining brainstorm
sessions going on behind the scenes.
TV62 is personal and carefree
rapping at its finest. Yet even with its
easy-going undercurrent, it remains
a disarmingly witty and technically
polished
project.
With
the
establishment of Bruiser Brigade
Records earlier this year, members
like J.U.S, Bruiser Wolf and Fat Ray
have released critically successful
solo projects alongside their work
with the Brigade. It’s apparent that
Bruiser Brigade represents a new
chapter not only in the musical
endeavors of its members, but in the
wider bounds of a hip-hop world
seeking autonomy and untethered
creativity.
Album cover from Bandcamp page
SABRIYA IMAMI
Daily Arts Writer
NORA LEWIS
Daily Arts Writer