A One Mann’s Movies review of “Don’t Breathe 2” (2021).
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
I mean. If there was ever an opportunity to come up with a clever title for a sequel, this was it right? “Breathe Again”; “Hold it for a bit longer”;”Are You Turning Blue Yet?”. But no… we just get a boring old “2” at the end!
I really wasn’t expecting much from this one to be honest. But I can put my 1 and 2 stars back in my pocket for another review.
Some nicely framed and lit scenes throughout. (Source: Sony Pictures Releasing)
Plot Summary:
As a young child, Phoenix (nod nod, wink wink) survives a house fire in a run-down neighborhood of Detroit. She’s brought up by her father, the blind and grizzled Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang). (He of the Navy Seals past, and a certain set of skills, from the first film). Yep – it looks like his turkey-basting dreams have finally come true!
Roll forwards eight years and Phoenix (Madelyn Grace) is a feisty youngster running for her life from a dangerous adversary. There are bad men who are part of an illegal organ-donor racket out to capture the young and very warm-blooded girl. But this is “Home Alone 2”, and Norman isn’t going to just lie down and let that happen.
Norman’s head massage business was inexplicably getting poor reviews online. (Source: Sony Pictures Releasing)
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III.
Directed by: Rodo Sayagues.
Written by: Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues.
An exceptional performance from young Madelyn Grace. (Source: Sony Pictures Releasing)
“Don’t Breathe 2” Review:
Positives:
- Five years is an awfully long time to wait for a sequel! I have to admit I needed to read through my original review for “Don’t Breathe” and the synopsis on IMDB before I went to see this. But, given that it is a fairly standard schlock-horror home-invasion movie, this is a nicely pieced together movie. Debut director Sayagues, who co-wrote the first film with original director Fede Alverez, moves the action along at a non-stop pace leaving you quite exhausted by the end of the (pleasantly short) 98 minutes.
- Stephen Lang nicely retreads his monster from the first movie as a besotted but anxious parent. But particularly good I thought was Madelyn Grace who plays the 11 year old Phoenix. I never once thought “there’s a child actress doing a performance”. Great job!
Why you should never use your mouth to unscrew the superglue. (Source: Sony Pictures Releasing)
Negatives:
- It doesn’t get many brownie points for originality: the blindness dice was already rolled in the original. So here we get some retread scenes of “the blind man being king”, with red insecticide spray replacing the darkness.
- It never feels quite right that you are supposed to be cheering on Nordstrom: someone with virtually no redeeming features (other than a love for dogs).
- The original film had a decidedly icky moment with the aforementioned baster. Here we have an equally icky, if ridiculous, plot-twist, taking us into a very dark place indeed. But what is supposed to be a shock-horror moment actually had me in fits of laughter, since all I could think of was a particular scene in “Monty Python and the Meaning of Life”!
Norman’s dental business was also inexplicably getting poor online reviews too. (You might gather that Jim Bob (Adam Young) has been having a tough day!) (Source: Sony Pictures Releasing)
Summary Thoughts on “Don’t Breathe 2”
We’ve been here so many times before that it’s almost a (bloody) paint by numbers. But I have to admit that I thought this one was well done, and a cut above the norm. The first movie made $158M on a budget of just $10M. This one has a (restrained) $15M budget, and has already made that back. Good for them.
The gore factor makes it not one for the illustrious Mrs Movie Man (who wisely didn’t come). But for horror fans out for a nice gory little romp, this has its attractions.
“Monkey”?
Yep, there is a monkey in this one. Well, Alvarez and Sayagues aren’t going to dead-end their options for a “Don’t Breathe 3” are they?
Trailer:
The trailer for “Don’t Breathe 2” is here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRbG2tjHYCA.
By the way, the trailer gives away the opening scene of the movie, so – if you can – is best avoided.
