Review of Blue Ruin (2014) by Elgan D — 10 May 2014

A Kickstarter funding campaign helped get Blue Ruin's creation underway and the film breathes new life into the revenge thriller genre with some bloody violence and authentic characters. Macon Blair (who has Hellbenders 3D and Murder Party on his CV) leaves his schlock past behind to play a mild beach hobo called Dwight who finds out the murderer of his parents (Wade) is set to be released from prison.

Dwight uses his limited means to return to Virginia and after a gruesome bloodbath achieves his aim which only prompts the Wade's family into revenge. Estranged from his sister (who I thought was his wife for a large part of the film), he unfortunately places her family in danger so decides he needs to go and finish the job fully.

Well shot and delivered in a simple style, the actors (including Home Alone's "Buzz" himself, Devin Ratray) deliver superb performances across the board. My main niggle was that it didn't really engage me.

After the brilliant first 20 minutes, the tension wasn't ratcheted up for me enough and found myself yawning through some of the sparse minimal dialogue sequences. Intensely acted with a brilliant vulnerability by Macon Blair himself, I just found myself wanting a bit more to chew on and the lack of momentum really stopped the film from being any better than "solid".

An indie delight with high aspirations that (for me) just failed to hit the mark. 6.5/10 Midlands Movies Mike.