Blue Ruin is a 2013 American thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier and starring Macon Blair. It revolves around a man down on his luck hell bent on getting revenge for the murder of his parents. Blue Ruin (2013) movie review
When we meet Dwight, he is dishevelled man living in his car and rummaging through trash for food. He is the kind of person you will want to avoid at any cost. However, he is neither stupid nor crazy, just a man that had everything that is important to him taken away. He was not able to get on the “normal” path and live an ordinary life. Once news of the man who killed his parents getting released from prison gets to him, he starts to form a plan for revenge. He knew this will get him into a hole that he will not escape easily.
It is this inability to cope with loss and moving on that drives his revenge. As one of the characters in the movie mentions, “you are not crazy, you are weak”. Us, the audience, feel sympathy for him because he is not a bad person. He looks sad and even confused most of the time. He doesn’t know what he is doing as he doesn’t plan his moves. Dwight has a good idea on what he wants to do but fails to see the downside of his actions. He is also not drawn back by a love interest so all of his moves are purely his to make.
This is one of the reason the movie is enjoyable. While it is slow at times, it really shows this normal man who struggles to cope with loss. His mind is clouded and fixed on revenge, nothing else.
As the movie progresses, Dwight starts to lose it. He goes on this revenge bender but he doesn’t want to attract a lot of attention. Yet he just goes through his plan and panics once he does something. It makes him come off as a normal man who can’t see anything else but revenge. At the same time he is worried that something awful might happen to those who haven’t forgotten him from the old days. By the end, he realizes he is too deep so he tries his best to see a clear conclusion that will not end up in more bloodshed.
Speaking of bloodshed, the violence in the movie is not overly gory. However it is graphic with a lot of blood spewing everywhere. The first kill with a knife was very graphic as the stab (and the removal) has blood coming out in a stream. There is not a lot of kills but they can be a bit messy. The atmosphere is tense for most of the scenes because the violence is done by a man who has no training. He has no military background, or even any tactical training to make him quick and lethal. He fumbles a lot and doesn’t know what his actions will mean to him or his loved ones. It makes him quite entertaining to watch.
With 90 min rundown (probably 10 min credits), tis move is a slow burn with an interesting cast. Macon Blair is a one man show and he does a fantastic job of playing a confused man with mixed priorities who does things knowing it might cost him his life. He doesn’t care because a big portion of his life is gone due to the fact his parents were taken from him by a monster that gets released from jail. It is highly entertaining to watch him fumble around and try to get all the things that he needs for his revenge. There are not many scenes that serve little importance.
Everything seemed to have been filmed to show some importance for Dwight and his actions. All I am saying is that the movie doesn’t have much fluff. It gets to the point and it is a breath of fresh air, especially with revenge thrillers done to death these days.
Random Fact – The name of the movie is a reference to the blue and ruined Pontiac that Dwight lives in/drives.
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