Don't Breathe 2 4K 2021 Ultra HD 2160p

A film that didn't need a sequel, but contrary to expectations, it got one. A blind war veteran (the same villain from the first part) lives in a remote hut and brings up a girl who survived the fire. Once she is kidnapped by unknown persons and the old man goes in search of the child. The movie will be the directorial debut of Rodolfo Sayages (the screenwriter of the last Evil Dead) and it seems that it will reinterpret the original: the antagonist turns into a positive hero, and the hermetic thriller style is replaced by the aesthetics of revenge films.

Don't Breathe 2 4K Review
Five years have passed since the release of Don't Breathe - Federico Alvarez's springy and convincing thriller: a gang of young robbers in search of easy money climbed into the house of a blind Iraq war veteran, who received numerous monetary compensation. The old man gave the thieves a cruel and bloody rebuff, but still the main character (Jane Levy) managed to escape not empty-handed: the money became the guarantor of her silence - in the basement of her grandfather her terrible secrets were found. The film fell in love with both fans of the genres and the audience in general: an enclosed space, dynamic scenes, visually rich bloodshed. The production of the sequel was a matter of time: the director's place was taken by the screenwriter of the original film, Rodolfo Sayagues (who also wrote "The Evil Dead: The Black Book") - and, alas, the potential of the franchise lost from this castling.

If you do not watch the trailer, read the synopsis and ignore other promotional materials, then the first 15 minutes are tormented by the question: is this a sequel or a prequel? The same old man, only slightly softer and seemingly positive in his severity (Stephen Lang) brings up his daughter in Spartan conditions: extreme survival techniques and a folder with homework for a month in advance. Phoenix (Madeline Grace) has no friends, no school, not the slightest idea about her mother - only her dad, Rottweiler dog Shadow and her friend Hernandez (Stephanie Arsila), who also fought and helps an unusual family in everyday life. The girl's desire for will grows in direct proportion to the grip of her father's embrace.

The attempt to turn the hero of Stephen Lang into a victim, showing him as a loving and lonely person, and attributing an unhealthy craving for violence to PTSD looks both reckless and helpless at the same time. Therefore, there are guesses about the background: the change in Norman's character may have been dictated by the fact that the authors wanted to tell how the gray-haired old man was covered with the iron armor of alienation and cruelty. Whether this scheme worked or not, we will not know: "Don't Breathe 2" is a direct continuation of the first part, although the film differs from the original both ideologically and stylistically. We will not reveal the circumstances of the appearance of the girl under this roof - the main intrigue involves a plot twist. But let us remind ourselves that in Alvarez's film, Norman Nordston held a hostage in the basement and forcibly impregnated her so that she would give birth to his child and he would not feel lonely - perhaps at this moment any possibility of empathy for the character is cut off in the bud. It is also impossible to sympathize with Phoenix herself - naturally, the next bad guys burst into the house, and the meat grinder begins, and the young Amazon diligently applies all of her dad's army lessons in her life, but actresses like Thomasin McKenzie are born, alas, not every decade, and Grace is not organics enough to overshadow all the shortcomings of the direction.

Compared to the first part, where the exposition was extremely understandable and effective, "Don't Breathe 2" seeks to complicate the genre pulse as much as possible: from horror-claustrophobia, the film moves towards action, periodically falling into melodrama and flirting with exploitation (but only slightly: blood and severed limbs are still not enough for a full-fledged invasion of this territory). At first, a new raid on the veteran's abode looks unjustified, but there is one more twist ahead (Sayages has three plot twists for just over an hour and a half) - and the motivation seems to make sense. In this fight, Steven Lang's character finally becomes immortal and virtually invulnerable, as befits the main character of an action movie or slasher: one blind old man chops with a hammer, tortures and shoots a horde of young guys - either like John Wick, or like Jason. But all this action, by and large, is devoid of genre drive, which can overshadow any illogicality and help to say goodbye to common sense: the violence on the screen does not reach the climax where it turns into a bloody attraction. As a result, it is quite difficult to distance oneself from how a little girl of about 12 was drawn into ultra-violent showdowns, where they beat her, sometimes drown her, sometimes try to shock her, and her father is no better than the bad guys with pistols.

According to the main principle of sequels - faster, higher, stronger - Sayages goes beyond the house and expands the geography of space. At this moment, the director's love for Fincher's Fight Club is strangely revealed: here you have a house on Paper Street, and Marla Singer in a wheelchair. You might assume that there is a hint of a third plot twist hidden here - no girl exists, and the old man is crazy. If this turned out to be true, we would most likely recommend that you go to this session as soon as possible. And so we can only advise you to stay on stage after the credits - as optional and meaningless as this sequel.