BurtonReviews Don’t Breathe: Oh For F*@K’S SAKE REALLY?!
(Image sourced from http://www.tvqc.com/2016/05/dont-breathe-le-retour-de-jane-levy-dans-le-nouveau-sam-raimi/)
Cinema
prices can be a right rip off, especially in screenings of Don’t Breathe; not
because it’s a bad movie, far from it, but because throughout the whole hour
and a half runtime of the film I was glued to the edge of my seat; I mean I had
to pay for three quarters of a seat that I didn’t even use. But to be honest,
even with that criminal level rip off, the price was more than worth it to see
this heart pounding ride of breath taking intensity and never ending “OH COME
ON, SERIOUSLY?!” scenarios that make Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe one hell of
a ride to experience.
The story of
Don’t Breathe has you following three thieves that decide to rob a blind man’s
home, easy score right? Well not so much when it turns out said Blind man, powerfully
played by Stephan Lang, is a force of nature ex veteran that would give the
Terminator a run for his money. Suffice to say things don’t go as planned and
our thieves are placed in the most terrifying game of Mouse Trap ever played.
This simple
premise allows the movie to not be weighed down by too much timewasting set up
and instead the movie quickly and gruesomely dives into a none stop adrenaline filled
game of cat and mouse for the ages. The movie is incredibly well paced, after a
very small amount of setup the tension of this film is allowed to rise and rise
until it is almost unbearable; to such a point that the audience can be
captivated in a moment of pure silence and fear where the sound of a pin
dropping could not only be heard, but would have probably made us s*@t
ourselves. There is never a moment when you can check the time in this movie
because you are always glued to the screen to see how the hell they survive
these impossible odds that never seem to stop coming as you constantly are left
screaming “OH COME ON! Give them a break!” to the screen in hopes for just a
second of none-nail biting peace.
However what
little setup there is in the movie does a great job of making you relate and
really care about the thieves: Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and
Money Daniel Zovatto). I went into this film thinking they’d just be your stereotypical
douchebags that you can’t wait to see get pummelled by the unstoppable force of
Stephan Lang, and while that is the case for one of this films trio of thieves
(Money), I got surprisingly connected to the other two and felt genuine fear
for their lives and real fist pumping hope for their survival. Every time they
got the upper hand my heart flickered in excitement for their victory and every
time they took a crushing blow my faced grimaced in shared pain, the connection
I and the rest of the audience had with the characters was not only palpable
but also incredibly strong and surprising.
And what
went a long way to helping create this engrossing connection the film formed
between the characters and the audience was the superb acting by the cast of
the film and the great writing they brought to life. Jane Levy perfectly
portrayed the struggle and desperation of Rocky in a way that felt real and not
too in your face or over the top. And the time spent on her home life was the
perfect way to begin forging this strong emotional connection to the audience
that really paid off later on in some impossibly intense and nerve racking
scenes as I prayed for her survival against all the odds.
Dylan
Minnette’s innocent, or as innocent as you can be when you’re a serial thief,
and just all around good guy turn as Alex made the character very relatable and
likeable. You see that this kid isn’t a bad person but just someone trying to
help his friend, which not only really made me want him to succeed but, again,
made me really care for him in these increasingly dangerous and deadly
situations he is being thrust into. I liked his character so much I just wish I
could’ve learnt abit more about him like the film allows you to do for Rocky,
so I could get a fuller picture of his character and strengthen his motivations
for turning to a life of thievery.
And if you’re
talking about this movie you can’t leave out the unstoppable force of nature
that is Stephan Lang as the simply titled ‘blind man’. His physical performance
was not only menacing and powerful but was also believable, making this concept
of a murderous blind man not feel too silly or fake but instead grounded and
terrifying making him a horror film villain that is up there with Jason Vorhees
and Michael Myers. And on top of that Lang also brought a depth to the
character that is not really ever given to villains of these types of movies,
making him more than a 2 dimensional murderbot and instead an actually interesting
character, as well as a menacing foe covered in the blood of your friends.
And when
this murderous blind man does begin the murder-time shenanigans it is executed
with a surprising amount of thought. The unique concept of the film allows for
some really interesting and fresh scenarios to play out, adding to the horror
as you really have no idea how anyone could escape out of a home that this man
knows like the back of his without even having to see it.
But on top
of the films well thought out and constructed scenarios, the way in which they
were filmed felt as fresh and interesting as the rest of the film. The way the
camera was used not only sets this film apart from others in its genre, but it
also helps keep the audience engrossed in the unstoppable tide of tension that
swept up every single person in the cinema with me. One scene in particular left
me genuinely amazed and inspired by how Fede Alvarez used
the camera to not only heighten how a scene was playing out but also added a
butt-ton of tension that left me cringing in my seat at the possible gruesome end
the scene could have.
(Image sourced from http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-232740/photos/detail/?cmediafile=21319533)
However, one
element that could have heightened these breathe taking scenarios to heart
stopping heights is a change in weaponry for the blind man’s disposal. Throughout
the movie he mainly only uses guns which while are very deadly, visually they
are a one trick pony and, in this film, are sometimes hard to even see if they
actually landed a hit. With more of a range of deadly equipment, such as some
of his horror film villain colleagues’ favourites, like a chainsaw, axe or machete,
for his utility belt, some of the kills of the film could have been a lot more
visually interesting and horrifyingly gruesome than a sometimes confusing shot
to somewhere on the body.
Overall this
film is great. It not only brings a fresh and unique twist to this played out
genre, but it also portrays the interesting and new scenarios of having a blind
man as your terrifying antagonist in innovative and amazing ways through this
films use of the camera. If you want a nonstop tension fuelled ride filled with
characters you actually care about and a new interesting and more than formidable
villain for you to aggressively route against, Don’t Breathe is the perfect
movie for you.
Don’t Breathe = 8/10
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Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
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