But I think Alvarez intended the Don't Breathe trio, or at least Rocky and Alex, to be empathy-inducing good kids who were desperate for a way out, not forgettable grist for the murder-mill. Horror flicks and thrillers are often populated with ding-dongs that's partly what makes it so easy for us to accept, and even cheer on, their demise. It wasn't so much that the thieves were stupid-though you could certainly find a lot of holes in their plans, especially Rocky's impulsive attempt to steal from the loudest electronic safe ever made while trying to avoid making noise-it was that they were so stupidly rendered. OK, Let’s Talk About That Stranger Things Season Finale Arrow Why is here again? Does he need the dough? Is he really in love with Rocky? Does anyone buy that these three would hang out in the real world, let alone exist in it? Rocky's white-trash backstory, meanwhile, is cartoonishly overdrawn, but at least her decision to get her younger sister out of Detroit gives her motivation-as opposed to Alex, the nice, smart, seemingly well-off kid played by Minnette. Money, the cocky goof played by Zovatto, speaks and swags with such hilariously misinformed force-fed faux-cool, he reminded me of Poochie (Sample line: "You think just because you jerk off to her Instagram selfies, that makes you a Romeo?" Woah! Radical slang, dude! See you next time you go swingin' on the flippity-flop!) He's supposedly in a relationship with Rocky, but their connection is never depicted with any conviction they may as well be two coworkers making small talk on a smoke break. which is also the movie's biggest problem: The more time you spend with the main characters, you realize just how reductive and convenient they are, even for a movie like this. And I was impressed by the fact that the camerawork and editing are so crisp and precise, at times you almost feel like you're trapped in the house with these thieves. I dug some of Fede Alvarez's more playful turns, such as an unexpected fake-out in the laundry room, and the outta-nowhere appearances by that Cujo-like guard dog. I winced during the moments of claustrophobic silence, as we watched the thieves try to avoid detection. And the film definitely gave me a giddy, dopey B-movie charge at times: I loved, for example, how Lang's sinewy build and sudden movements gave him a terrifying, almost lupine-like physicality (he's one of the better movie monsters in recent memory). As you know, I have a deep affection for grody little thrillers-my favorite movie of the year remains gory but gratifying Green Room, an escape-caper I annoyingly bring up during WIRED's Slack convos at least once a week-and so I am very much in the demo for a late-summer no-brainer like Don't Breathe. He fights back forcefully-killing one of the thieves early on in the process-and halfway through the movie, we learn why he's so protective of his property (trigger warnings abound for this next section, so be advised).īrian Raftery: Angela, before we get into the last 20 minutes or so of Don't Breathe, I wanted to talk briefly about the break-ins, breakdowns, and fake-outs that preceded it-because they play a big part in how the movie's twist played for me. When the robbers break into the home, though, they discover that their intended victim is far more powerful (and devious) than they expected. Why the big windfall? It turns out the sightless survivor-whose name is never given-lost his beloved daughter years before, when she was mowed down by a wealthy teenaged girl, forcing the killer's well-to-do parents to pay off the blind man. We'll get to that moment in a bit, but first, a recap of the movie's admirably simple set-up: In a bleak, barren neighborhood of Detroit, three young thieves (played by Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, and Daniel Zovatto) break into the dilapidated home of a blind war veteran (*Avatar'*s Stephen Lang), looking for the six-figure sum he's rumored to keep hidden somewhere inside. 1 in the North American box office, earning more than $26 million, and prompting a lot of conversations about one particularly Super-Awful Scene. Last weekend, the home-invasion thriller Don't Breathe opened at No. *Warning: This post contains spoilers for the film *Don't Breathe.
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