Review: Don’t Breathe 2

Norman, AKA The Blind Man (Stephen Lang) lives with – and is overprotective of – his young adopted daughter (Madelyn Grace) living a relatively happy existence, though the girl is curious about her past and Norman has been a bit sketchy on the details. Enter a group of home invaders led by sleazy-looking Raylan (Brendan Sexton III, well-cast) who tussle with The Blind Man who does all he can to defend his home, but the invaders end up taking off with his daughter. They’re gonna regret that.

 

I thought the first “Don’t Breathe” was an effective piece of horror filmmaking despite not having a single likeable protagonist. It was hard to really care about anyone in that film when everyone on both sides was pretty undesirable. This 2021 sequel from director Rodo Sayagues and co-writer Fede Alvarez (who have swapped roles from the previous film) is essentially a re-working of the original concept to basically give me what I asked for the first time around. It’s still a flawed film, but for different reasons this time around. I’d probably rate the two films the same, at the end of the day.

 

The camerawork by Pedro Luque (who also shot the first “Don’t Breathe”) is terrific, a bit reminiscent of David Fincher’s “Panic Room”. For a film that depends on darkness, it’s well-lit enough still to see everything necessary. Like the first film it’s an effective piece of filmmaking but here the big difference is having a sympathetic child protagonist to gravitate towards and worry about. As for Stephen Lang’s Blind Man, he’s essentially a protagonist this time around too. He's still messed-up and a tough bastard, but not ‘creepy arsehole kidnapper’ messed-up this time around. Some won’t like the change, but it worked for me and Lang is solid in the part.

 

So far as flaws go, the only major one for me is the unfortunate reliance on ‘jump’ scares. It’s annoying. I suppose some will see originality as an issue here, as the film basically has the same idea seen from a slightly tweaked perspective, but I liked the tweak (it might remind you a bit of the differences between “The Purge” and “The Purge: Anarchy” in regards to genre changes). The film isn’t as tight as the first one, but given that the plot is a bit more expansive in scope, that’s understandable. It’s just that the first half of the film is more interesting and effective than the second when we get a location change and more focus on action thrills than horror chills.

 

More likeable characters than the first film, but with less tension and tightness, this sequel ends up pretty much on par with its predecessor. Both are solid, well-made films this one a touch too reliant on lazy ‘scare’ tactics for my personal taste. Still worth seeing, especially if you can try to forget everything about Lang’s character in the first film.  

 

Rating: B-

 

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