Don’t Breathe – Movie Review
So I saw Don’t Breathe last week. I had no idea what to expect going into this movie. I was hoping that it was not just another cliché horror film. But, what I got, was not a cliché mess of random jump scares and loud music playing over a scary moment. What I got, was a very, very great thriller.
I am not going to beat around the bush with this review. I am going to jump straight into what I liked, did not like, and give it a score at the end.
To start off with what I liked about Don’t Breathe, Jane Levy, whom I think is the main lead (considering she is the only thing on the movie poster), gave a very convincing performance. I was invested in her character from the get-go. And no, it has nothing to do with her good looks. *coughs* On a serious note, though, I felt for her character the most. When she was terrified, I understood why, which made me all the more tense throughout the movie.
The other two guys in the group, were fine. The guy who gets shot in the trailer (which is a spoiler, kind of, but it was not essential to the plot), Daniel Zovatto, did what he had to do to help the story move along to the blind man’s house, and he did fine with that. It might have been a waste of a character, but how else were they going to try and rob the man’s house if he did not suggest it? The other boy, Dylan Minnette, I thought did a pretty good job with what he had to do with his character. No spoilers, but his character’s main goal in the movie was to stay alive. He acted very well when he was injured, thus making it believable.
Stephen Lang in this movie was phenomenal. If his character did not work, this movie would have been a complete disaster. Luckily, his character is believable, and you feel for him at first when the kids break into his home. Some other stuff happens that makes you change your tune, but I will leave that note there.
The last thing I liked about this movie was, like I stated earlier, there were no stupid jump scares (well, there was one, but still). There are scares that make you jump, but they are crafted so well that overlaying music was not at all necessary.
Believe it or not, there are only two things I had problems with in this movie. First was Daniel Zovatto’s dialogue. To me, it felt like they had to make his character throw in a bunch of F-bombs (maybe 20 or more?) or they would not have gotten the R-rating, but that is just speculation. Once he dies (again, that was shown in the trailer, so it is not a spoiler), 99% of the F-bombs stop, and the cursing in general as well. The last thing that I did not like about the movie was a moment (or, rather, a slight twist) in which you think something happened but it did not (yeah that is really vague, I apologize haha), made me go “Ah, yeah, that’s cliché.”
So in the end, I had a very fun time with Don’t Breathe. Smart writing, believable characters, and just enjoyable all-around. I was sweating the entire run-time because of how tense this thing was.
I am giving Don’t Breathe a 4.5/5.
PARENTS
LANGUAGE: A lot of F-bombs in the first 20 minutes, then they die down almost to a halt. Then you have some uses of “sh*t,” and probably other curse words that did not catch my attention.
BLOOD/VIOLENCE: A lot of violence. Brutal and bloody violence, at that. *Spoilers ahead* There is also a point in which a character gets stabbed in the mouth with a tube of semen as it gets squirted into their mouth, and they spit it out everywhere. There are moments that allude to potential rape.
SEX/NUDITY: Someone accuses another of masturbating to Rocky’s Instagram pictures. *Spoilers ahead* There are moments that allude to potential rape.
DRUGS: Rocky’s mother smokes a cigarette. Money smokes weed most of the time.
