 |
| I Loved It |
I
know I haven’t written in a while, and I didn’t want you to get used to not
seeing me flood your home page with me vomiting my blog onto any and all
communities who don’t instantly remove me, so here I am. Honestly though, I
know your saw my absence in the same way I imagine my wife would see my absence,
as a relief, and with little to no concern about my well-being. Well good for
you. I hope you’re happy with your life choices that have made you that sort of
person. I know the sort of person you are – don’t think I don’t – which is why
I am here. Sure, I got a movie to talk about, but more than that I am here to
let the world (read: you) know that I am still here and I am still annoying.
You may ask yourself (how did I get
here), is he going to finish his review of those weird Quentin what’s-his-name
movies? Nope. Is he gonna review We Are What We Are, his most recent
non-review? Nope.
I’m here to talk about Blue Ruin. A
revenge movie. I love revenge movies. I love the formula and will never get
tired of seeing someone beat down on a mission only to come back at the end and
finish the job. I love the idea of a regular guy, wronged, and beating the odds
to get his revenge. I love the clichés, I love everything about those movies,
and with that being said a good revenge movie can still be destroyed by poor
production values – meaning, poor acting, poor music, sub-par camera work, all
of those things can ruin any good thing.
Blue Ruin is aware of all of the clichés
of a revenge movie, which makes it so interesting and entertaining. The story has
obstacles for the one who is serving the revenge and that changes things up a
bit in this movie.
A homeless man receives word that a
man is getting out of jail for killing the homeless man’s parents, an act that
apparently sent the man into a reclusive homeless life that he seems to have
adapted to rather well. The little things about the man show that he’s not a complete
loss, he’s managed to keep his car that he’s living out of in working
condition, and even the local police are decent enough to him even when he
mentions having broken into an empty house to use the bathtub.
With word of the man’s release the homeless
man promptly collects his money to buy a gun. You never see him buy it but a
bit later he has it, only it has a lock on the trigger, he goes about trying to
break the lock and promptly breaks the gun instead. It’s things like this that
made me think, okay, maybe this ain’t gonna go like I think, and it doesn’t.
His sister and her children are put at risk, so will they become involved? His
sister is supportive of his desire and then blames him for putting them all at
risk. When things escalate he doesn’t back down, though asks for direction of
whether he should or not, and in the end it’s his high school friend who helps
him with the best advice anyone can get while on a revenge kick: No speeches,
just point and shoot. When his friends says that I instantly loved this movie.
Blue Ruin has some great acting – especially the
end. The women who end up on the bad end of the revenge stick are on screen for
maybe a few minutes at the end of the movie, but they have the presence of some
pretty mean and bad people.
This guy doesn’t know what he’s
doing, and though he’s smart enough (and lucky) to keep himself from getting killed,
he’s just an average guy with simply nothing to lose, and that can be dangerous
for those he’s going after.
