Don't Breathe 2

Starring: Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III, Adam Young, Rocci Boy Williams, Christian Zagia, Bobby Schofield, Fiona O'Shaughnessy, Stephanie Arcila
Directed by: Rodo Sayagues
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) and his adopted daughter face a grave threat when a group of men break into their house.

Review:

Tim: Fede Alvarez delivered a surprisingly effective film in 2016's Don't Breathe, a horror thriller that flipped the switch on the expected plot and delivered something that felt fresh, unique, and exciting. Five years later, we get an inferior sequel that might never be bad, but represents a clear and obvious drop in quality. Don't Breathe 2 is still a decent film, but it's lost what made the original felt so effective.

The biggest challenge the film faces is the script. The story here stretches our incredulity too far. In the original film, it felt so fresh to root for the people breaking INTO the house, and the homeowner felt like the true antagonist of the film. Stephen Lang did a tremendous job as the Blind Man. In this film, the narrative is stretched too much- The Blind Man is now the protagonist, because even worse people are breaking into his house this time. The movie doesn't abandon the idea that the Blind Man is a bad guy, but he's definitely who we are supposed to be rooting for. It's confusing, to be asked to root for a bad guy just because those he's facing are arguably worse. The script never fully achieves this. It does revert to the standard home invasion plot, where we're asked to root for the "victim" against the invaders. The story itself, with his adopted daughter and who the home invaders are is actually pretty decent. It's not a great story, but given the confines of the characters established in the first movie, it's actually a fairly inventive way to continue the story. The reality is that the original should have been a one-and-done, but if you were going to continue the narrative, this is about as clever of a way to do it. It never quite works, but it gets closer than you would expect.

Much of the film's entertainment comes from watching a blind veteran take apart a group of thugs. The film does some inventive thrilling action sequences- the water in the safe scene is absolutely a standout. The movie embraces its R rating and we get some gruesome, gory deaths. It's mildly entertaining to watch this all go down- the bad guys are certainly bad and it's easy to hope they get destroyed.

Lang is once again solid as the Blind Man. His performance might be a bit less effective this second go around, but he's such a menacing presence on screen. He leans into this well and it's fun to watch on screen. I wasn't a big fan of Madelyn Grace as his adopted daughter. Her performance was okay, but it felt uninspired. I never felt an emotional connection with her, which hurts the overall film. She was one of the weaker aspects of the movie. The supporting cast was surprisingly effective. I thought Brendan Sexton III gave a terrific performance- he elicits a range of emotions from the viewers and his performance is solid throughout. Stephanie Arcila has a small role, but it's memorable- she makes us feel something for her character. Christian Zagia is also surprisingly effective in his small role- you would normally not even give his character a second of thought, but he brings humanity to the role and makes it memorable. On the other side, I wasn't impressed with Fiona O'Shaughnessy, who gave what felt like a weak, not believable performance.

As a whole, Don't Breathe 2 is a decent horror film. The story is fairly clear and it's at least mildly enjoyable to watch a bunch of goons get taken apart by a deadly blind man. However, director Rodo Sayagues is no Fede Alvarez. This was his directorial debut, and his inexperience shows. True, the script asks too much of the audience anyway, but Sayagues' execution was only average. Directing a decent film your first time out isn't a failure, but he's helped by some goodwill from the first one. I know 2016 and 2021 are different worlds and the box office is still impacted by Covid, but it's telling that while the first film made $89 million domestically, this one only managed $32 million. The story of the Blind Man was stretched too thin here and there's zero reason for this character to continue.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Don't Breathe, Evil Dead, Panic Room, Gone