After
being impressed by Jeremy Saulnier’s Murder Party, I figured I’d give his
follow-up, Blue Ruin a try. It was a
critical hit on the indie circuit and got him good enough notices to parlay it
into his biggest success, Green Room a few years later. While it’s not quite as strong as either of
those films, it’s still an absorbing and stylish thriller.
What we have is basically a homeless version of Death Wish. Dwight (Macon Blair) lives in his car along the Rehoboth boardwalk. When he finds out the guy who murdered his parents is getting out of jail, he heads down to Virginia and kills him in a barroom bathroom. His family comes after Dwight packing heat and he must defend himself at any cost.
Saulnier moves things along at a slow and methodical pace. Even though there are times where it seems like not a lot is happening, it all works out well in the end because you get to see the toll that violence and revenge takes on its characters. There are a lot of quiet stretches along the way that are punctuated with bursts of gruesome violence, which is what makes them so effective and shocking.
Blair
(who’s appeared in every one of Saulnier’s films) is great in the lead
role. The whole movie rests squarely on
his shoulders. If we didn’t grow to care
about him and his quest for revenge, everything would’ve come crashing down. He does a fine job showing what an average joe
has to go through to get revenge. He’s
not Charles Bronson. He’s just a dude,
which is the main thing that separates Blue Ruin from your typical revenge
picture.
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