His Movie Review: Blue Ruin (2013)

Why he watched it: Found it on Netflix, positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

His rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

His review: Revenge is a common motive in films, usually painted in simplistic ‘good guy avenging against bad guy’ terms. It is used to generate sympathy and dislike, respectively, for those characters and setup violent action sequences. Rarely has revenge, its toll and consequences been explored in film.

A notable, and masterful, exception is Oldboy, Chan-wook Park’s fascinating 2003 (avoid the 2013 remake by Spike Lee). Revenge in Park’s hands leaves a last legacy as one act spawns another.

Another recent film, Blue Ruin, similarly explores the cycle of revenge, although without Park’s stylish action sequences. Jeremy Saulnier’s approach is more naturalistic, following the consequences of lost soul Dwight’s revenge for his parent’s death. Saulnier wants us to see the circular nature of revenge—Dwight’s actions are just one in a series of ‘justified’ retribution.

I wasn’t quite sure what I felt about this movie after finishing it. It is one of those films that doesn’t immediately grab you—you need time to think it through, to see that the plain style and normal characters have layers, that the simple act of losing a set of keys keeps the cycle going. I’m not sure why Saulnier chose to have Dwight’s enemies be a gun-toting ‘backwoods’ family. I think this works against his naturalist approach—how many families have a machine gun stashed beneath the living room recliner? And we lose a layer of complexity when the ‘bad guys’ are stereotypical and not fully fleshed out characters. But Dwight is gripping in over an overall effective film.

Overall, a film worth watching to understand the consequences when we take justice into our own hands.