Don’t Breathe Review
Don’t Breathe Review – Jack Fitzpatrick
Although it may be considered a fairly infamous genre by some movie-watchers, we’ve seen a few fairly decent horror titles being released in the last couple of months; ‘The Conjuring 2’ was a fantastically creepy film, ‘Lights Out’ was respectably great and even the perhaps lesser known film ‘Green Room’ was – though divisive – pretty good. It’s obviously always great to see good horror films, but there’s something particularly refreshing about seeing them in cinemas – it’s not like it never happens – but it is considerably rarer than with other genres. The thing about horror films is that the environment around the audience can make a substantial difference to their experience. These are the kinds of films that one must watch in the right mindset, and I’d argue that nothing compares to watching a movie in cinemas. ‘Don’t Breathe,’ is one that I couldn’t recommend watching in cinemas enough. But hey, watch it however you want – What do I know? The point is, this is a fantastic film!
Don’t Breathe is an example of horror at its finest. It tells a refreshingly simple story while remaining original, uses an interesting concept (Or perhaps one might call; gimmick) effectively and is undoubtedly able to uphold its heavy tension throughout its entirety. And even though I didn’t particularly find the film “scary,” the film held me in a state of powerful suspense consistently and never really let go. This one is truly a ‘nail biter.’ From the opening shots to the closing credits, Don’t Breathe will have you completely engrossed in its world.
So the film follows a group of experienced but small-time thieves who are looking to score big. It turns out that they are looking to do one last big job so that they can get out of the ‘game.’ And though some of the plot points seem just a little formulaic – It’s all in the details that make this film special; Early in the film they come across an interesting story about an elderly man (Who conveniently also happens to be blind) who has inherited a large sum of cash; which for them means potential; easy job = easy money. One thing leads to another and soon enough it’s ‘the-night-of’ and they’re planning on breaking in to this old mans’ house. Little do they know that this man has some sort of combat experience and it turns out that they’ve seriously messed with the wrong man – He fights back. The film then follows the fight for survival between the old man and the robbers.
And this is such an interesting dynamic which constantly begs the question; Who has the advantage / disadvantage? The main group of thieves obviously have the advantage of sight, but are not acquainted with the house and are very much ‘everyday people’ in terms of strength. The man however, though blind remains very capable of defending himself; He’s much stronger. And he is also intimately familiar with his surroundings. (It is his house after all.) And its elements like these that bring originality to a film that otherwise may have come across as a fairly standard horror film.
The shifting power between the films leads and the ever-growing struggle between them make for a creatively told story which personally kept me captivated throughout. This also gave the film a level of tension that you just don’t see in most movies. Each step on the creaky wooden floors, each breath that happens to be just a little too loud and every slight sound that our protagonists may make could often mean the difference between life and death for them. It’s factors like these that have the actual audience themselves sitting there trying not to breathe (Or perhaps – like me – crunch their popcorn) too loudly!
The viewers’ attempts of remaining silent though, may also be due to the mainly physical performance of Stephen Lang playing the main antagonist in the film. Despite (Or perhaps assisted by) having minimal dialogue, Lang manages to be one of the most intimidating characters that I’ve seen in a film all year. From the sheer brutality of his violent actions to the way he viciously barks what lines he does have – I buy Stephen Lang as quite the force of nature. He’s a very interesting character who possesses just the right amount of mystery. With but glimpses of humanity, Lang’s character can be described as quite the machine. Each attack made on his part appears extremely impactful. His actions are presented as rapid and precise and even when he misses it never really feels like a complete victory for the other characters, but just a small opportunity to possibly gain an upper hand – With this man, the danger never truly lets up, and when he’s down, you know that he’ll be back to his feet soon enough.
And the film never glorifies the violence that he does inflict either, it’s not unrealistically gory and it’s not full of over the top kills, even just a simple punch to the head delivered by this man comes off as awfully brutal. Stephen Lang’s blind man is an immense threat throughout. This character also continuously begs yet another question between himself and the protagonists; Who is the real ‘bad guy?’
– Since this is a non-spoiler review though, that is a discussion for another time.
So this movie is one of those where the entire thing takes place over just one night or even only a few hours. It’s a simple story structure told in complete chronological order that makes for an immensely intense film. I always find these types films kind of fascinating because it allows for a ‘real-time’ feel to be prominent; One thing consistently leads to another and there are few breaks between time and settings – this can often make it so that each scene is vital and that there is little ‘waste.’ We see most of the actions made by each character and so essentially we spend this time with them. This allows for us to place ourselves in the situation and ask ourselves ‘What would I do?’ Making for a largely engaging narrative.
One specific thing that I also valued about the film was the fact that it didn’t shove all of its information in our face. It wasn’t too exposition heavy (Though some may argue that it takes a while to get in to the bulk of the film – I wouldn’t, but I’ve heard this complaint from a few sources.) And it didn’t patronize its audience. It hinted at the dynamics of its characters’ relationships and pasts and most importantly the characters were all believable in terms of motivation and actions. We get an idea of who each character is and their backstories but the film never brings us down a level of ‘sob story’ territory, though arguable whether the characters are likable or not, we undeniably feel for them. They also never follow the classic horror cliché of extreme incompetence and this is something I also personally appreciated quite a lot.
Another surprising praise for the film that I had was the gorgeous lighting and cinematography presented throughout the whole thing. The lighting played a big part in film due to something as simple as ‘sight’ being a theme. The darkness of the main setting made sense and didn’t feel artificial. The lighting and creative camera movement were clearly thought out properly and had care put in to them. The blazing sun, shining through the gaps objects creating silhouettes and shadows early on in the film, the hard contrast between the lightness and darkness remaining prominent throughout and the couple of long takes as the camera travelled from room to room introducing the audience to the main setting were all some great examples of beautiful film-making. Many horror films go for a grim, dark and gritty look and always come off as extremely bleak. I appreciate the stark difference with Don’t Breathe, not being afraid to look attractive and colorful when it wanted to.
The simplicity of the writing is something to appreciate, the naturalistic performances are admirable and perhaps most importantly the pure tension remaining tremendously high throughout is what this film will be remembered for. Grounded in reality, the film is a brutally creative take on a fairly over-done sub-genre. In a world where not too many movies can, Don’t Breathe had me squirming in suspense throughout its entirety and for that I deeply admire it. 9/10.
