Rapid Review: Blue Ruin (2013)

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blue ruin poster 1

“I’d forgive you if you were crazy, but you’re not. You’re weak.”
-Sam

SYNOPSIS: A mysterious outsider’s quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family. – via IMDB

blue ruin

GRADE 8.5I read a lot of good things about Blue Ruin, and decided to finally watch it for Tyson’s “Recommended By” blogathon, and let me just tell you, it was amazing! Blue Ruin is not encumbered with a large budget, which sometimes means that filmmakers and directors take away from the story, acting, and plot to inundate it with useless action and effects. This movie suffers from none of that, and Macon Blair was absolutely brilliant as Dwight – that was damn near perfect casting, in my opinion. Blue Ruin is a slow burn, and I love a slow burn, especially when it is well laid out. It starts slow and deliberately builds to a phenomenal crescendo, and the journey there is enjoyable and intense all the way. In a very  understated fashion, the film builds an underlying tension you forget about, yet constantly find your body knotted up, reminding yourself to just relax and continue watching, and before you know it, you are at the edge of your seat again, and completely unaware of how you got there. I liked the story, too. Nothing we haven’t seen before or anything like that, but it was presented wonderfully and came together well, too. The entire cast worked very well with their material, and Devin Ratray was especially entertaining for me. Another budget film here, and I have to say that recently some of the independent film being churned out top a lot of their big budget counterparts, and I think that is exciting as hell. Dwight was also more convincing for the things his character was doing. He wasn’t your average everyday man who suddenly had to exact revenge and become a menace and unstoppable. I liked that he wasn’t suddenly so much more than he was. I felt so sorry for Dwight when he was introduced, he strikes such a pitiful character. Blue Ruin was shot stunningly, with some solid directing and great camera work. It’s not a really long movie, but it commands your attention from the off, and never gets boring. I liked that the score didn’t take over or detract from the viewing experience once, but complemented every step of the way. All I can say is that this movie really deserves to be checked out, and is worth the acclaim it has received. I am a fan of it, and I can see myself watching it again.

17 thoughts on “Rapid Review: Blue Ruin (2013)”

  1. Grrr…. let me at this one already! I cannot wait! You and Louie have both had awesome reviews of it and Louie (I’m not sure if you follow his blog or not) even had a cool interview with Macon Blair. This one just sounds right up my alley.

    Thanks for reminding me of this little overlooked one again Zoe. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hey Ruth,

      Hmmmm… I would love to say that it isn’t much… but it comes up a few times, and when it does it’s heavy. Not too much guts and stuff (budget and all that)… maybe someday though 😉

      Like

      Reply

  8. Pingback: Rapid Review: Green Room (2016) – The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger

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