Review of Blue Ruin (2014) by Matt L — 30 Aug 2014

When you read reviews of movies oftentimes you'll here words like "raw", and "in your face" and it's difficult to really get a handle on what that really means until you actually see a movie and you think of those words yourself. Those were two things that I thought of specifically after watching "Blue Ruin", the little known thriller and the next edition of my "Netflix Gems" series.

It follows Dwight Evans, a disheveled homeless man who, despite his shortcomings, is resourceful enough to carve out a nice little niche for himself for a guy living in his car and eating leftovers from the garbage. He gets picked up one day by a police officer and is told that the man who murdered his parents has been released after a prison sentence. Hearing this news and seeing the look in his eyes, you can sense the type of baggage this man has been carrying for years and start thinking of how a tragedy of that magnitude can affect a person at such a vulnerable age. It then sets us up to follow Dwight on a cold and bloody journey for revenge.

It's easy for anyone to think of the "what I would do in this situation" scenario when watching a movie like this. More often then not, you'll hear someone say "I would totally do the same thing, I would straight up go after and kill that guy", hell, you might even think those thoughts yourself. It could even be seen as normal for those type of thoughts to cross your mind but actually acting on them is something else entirely. The majority of those who have those thoughts will eventually run into that last shred of their conscience that will hold them back from that combination of satisfying revenge and life ruining mistake. However, there is always that potential that there is that person who does break through that mental block and goes through with it. "Blue Ruin" is saying just that which is a reason why it's cast is filled with all new faces and unfamilars (except for Devin Ratray, last scene in the immortal role as Kevin McCallister's older brother Buzz in the "Home Alone" franchise) because they want to put a face to that potential and it reinforces the idea of how "Dwight" could be inside anyone depending on the circumstances.

It's because of these ideas why the we can relate to Dwight in way, whether its his fumblings with acts of violence, his regret after making mistakes, and just the obvious thought of being scared out of your mind when traveling down this type of road. It's so easy to be able to think about killing those who have killed your own because that Hammurabian mindset is so quick and easy, "You take mine then I take yours, done". We've grown as people from that kind of philosophy because we know that kind of brutality resonates and will eventually blow everything up on its side. "Blue Ruin" takes us on the journey of a man with nothing to lose and nothing to gain but revenge and the knowledge that that revenge won't ease his mind and lessen the effects of the trauma from his past. Dwight Evans is just a man who believes in a sense of right and wrong and that it is only right to destroy those who have done such terrible wrongs to him and his own in order to try and bring a sense of balance to his universe.

We all want balance in our universe but it's hard to decide what we are able to do in order to maintain that balance.