A Taut and Gripping Genre Thriller: A Review of “Don’t Breathe”
This is a fantastic genre-bending action thriller, boasting a meticulously crafted script and a stellar performance by Stephen Lang.
The story revolves around three young individuals from a dying Detroit, who resort to robbery to make ends meet. One of them has a father working for a security company, making it easy for him to acquire keys to houses equipped with alarm systems. To avoid serious charges, the trio refrains from stealing money and tries to keep their loot under ten thousand dollars. However, they are tempted to abandon their principles when they receive a tip about a war veteran who supposedly keeps hundreds of thousands of dollars at home. This sum could change their lives forever, and the friends decide to take the risk, especially since the house is located in an abandoned neighborhood, and its owner is blind.
Initially titled “Man in the Dark,” the name “Don’t Breathe” was first revealed at the South by Southwest film festival, where it premiered.
Fede Álvarez’s Redemption
Three years prior, the then-emerging Uruguayan director Fede Álvarez faced a significant challenge when he took on either a remake or a sequel to the classic “Evil Dead.” While many considered his film quite decent, and its box office earnings far exceeded its budget, Álvarez still received his share of criticism. This was simply because he wasn’t Sam Raimi, and his “Evil Dead” was both similar to the original (which annoyed some) and dissimilar (which infuriated others).
.jpg “Still from "Don’t Breathe"”)
“Don’t Breathe” had half the budget of the “Evil Dead” remake, which Álvarez welcomed, as it meant less interference from studio executives in his vision for the film.
A Reverse “Panic Room”
“Don’t Breathe” marks Álvarez’s second full-length feature in Hollywood (in between, he directed an episode of the “From Dusk till Dawn” series), and a lot rides on it. If things go well, Álvarez will finally convince the studio bosses that he can and should be trusted with gritty genre films, while also forcing his detractors to view him without prejudice, detached from Sam Raimi. However, in the case of “Don’t Breathe,” another name will likely be evoked: David Fincher. Álvarez’s new film is practically a reverse “Panic Room,” a dark thriller about three teenagers trapped by a highly skilled “American Zatoichi.” Realizing that someone is in his house, the seemingly helpless old man boards up all the windows, locks the doors, grabs a gun, and goes hunting.
This situation could easily have felt contrived and absurd, but Álvarez and his longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues (who also wrote the script for the “Evil Dead” reboot) execute it brilliantly. There are virtually no logical leaps in the script; all movements are logical and clearly justified. Every Chekhov’s gun, scattered here and there (the ladybug, the trunk, the shards, the removed shoes), fires dutifully at the right moments. After the film ends, one can only admire the meticulous and almost mathematically precise script that Álvarez and Sayagues have delivered.
This leads to many other strengths of “Don’t Breathe,” including excellent pacing (the action only stumbles slightly in the final quarter of the film) and brutal suspense, which successfully mask the film’s relative intimacy. Álvarez doesn’t try to “add drama” or elicit sympathy from the audience with sentimental stories from the characters’ pasts, relying solely on an almost primal formula. We root for the kids simply because they are clearly weaker and more helpless than their opponent, even though they were the ones who started the trouble.
Performances
One might think that actors in such a film are required to do little, but that’s not the case. On the contrary, with minimal dialogue and “setup” scenes, they needed to create rich and convincing characters. To the credit of the leading quartet, none of them falters, although Stephen Lang completely steals the show. With practically no words (he only utters a few phrases throughout the film), he paints a very precise portrait of a seemingly sympathetic pensioner (he got the money after his daughter was hit by a rich girl in a car), who can instantly transform into a ruthless killer.
Perhaps “Don’t Breathe” won’t become a major event in the genre or remain in history (although, frankly, it’s precisely these kinds of films that do – unpretentious but well-crafted with great attention to detail), but while you’re sitting in the theater, none of that matters. It’s a captivating, effective, and engaging film that doesn’t stray beyond the boundaries of the genre, but within those boundaries, it frolics so exuberantly that you don’t want to delve into how it’s made, but for once, simply go with the flow, enjoying it as a thrilling ride.