Review of Don't Breathe (2016) by Jesse O — 08 Dec 2016

If you've followed my reviews for any length of time then you know that, while I have certainly enjoyed my fair share of home invasion thrillers, I'm not a big fan of how many of them really just play out the same way without very little in the way of variation.

There's even movies that I've seen that have a good concept, like for example of Intruders, where the lead character has agoraphobia and hasn't left her house in over a decade. That movie does something with its concept, but not nearly enough to really stand out or actually be an enjoyable movie, at least in my book.

Which brings us to Don't Breathe, a movie from the twisted fuckers that brought you the Evil Dead remake. Just based on that pedigree alone, I would have watched this movie in a heartbeat. But, to avoid repeating themselves or, dare I say, top themselves in terms of brutality and gore, this movie goes in the opposite direction.

That's not to say that this isn't a violent movie, because it is, but it's not nearly as violent as the Evil Dead remake. And I believe that it was done on purpose, simply to avoid the comparisons.

Not that the films are similar or anything of the sort, but being from the same team, a lot of people would expect something similar to that. And, honestly, I'm fucking glad to say that this movie is so much better than I was expecting.

And I was expecting it to be damn good anyway. So, yea, this was a pretty damn great movie. One of the many great things about it is the fact that, really, this movie has such a simple concept. A group of friends, breaking into this blind man's house to steal his money, he's sitting on a lot of it due to a settlement, find themselves fighting for their lives when they find out that the blind man is able to defend himself quite effectively.

A very simple, yet expertly told story that's really fucking high on intensity. When things get going, the movie hardly ever stops. It never slows down, it only gives you brief moments of respite before kicking into high gear again.

I don't wanna say that the movie is super subversive in terms how it manipulates the tropes associated with the genre, but it plays with them in such a way that's a joy to watch. I don't wanna say that anything can happen at any moment, because this movie at least deals with something more grounded on this earth, but they definitely keep you on your toes for the entirety of the flick.

You never know what's in the next room the 'good guys' are headed and you never know where the blind man is gonna come from or what other trick he has up his sleeves. Of course, the movie does involve some other elements that aren't related to Alex or Rocky escaping.

It comes out that the blind man has kidnapped and held hostage the woman who killed his daughter in a car accident, but didn't go to jail due to the system that protects the more affluent. It turns out that the reason the blind man, he's never named, has held this woman hostage was that, as he saw it, the fair thing for her to do give her a new child since she took away the only one he had.

He didn't do this by raping her, as the blind man said he wasn't a rapist, he did this by using a turkey baster filled with his semen. So it's several levels of messed up, because, while what the blind man did was illegal and considerably worse than the robbery that Alex, Rockey and Money attempted, you can see his logic in how he would feel that what's fair is for him to get a new child from the one who murdered his.

It's not justifiable, in any way, but you can somewhat see his logic. Same goes for Rocky wanting to get her sister, I believe, out of the horrible place they live in. And the only way to do is to steal this money.

Again, not justifiable, but I can see the logic. So the film, thankfully, in spite of it being a supremely an exciting and tense thriller, also doesn't forget its characters. And there's not even much in the way of conventional dialogue to begin with, so it was even more impressive when you look at it like that.

The performances are more than solid, Stephen Lang is always great in these sort of roles, where he has to play a badass. Got no complaints about the acting whatsoever. Don't know what else to say about this movie, I thought it was pretty goddamn great and I would easily recommend it.