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Writer's pictureSteve

Don't Breathe 2 (2021)

Twenty or so years ago, I wrote a short story about a man breaking into the home of a convicted, time-served murderer, without knowing whose house it was and the rather grisly events that transpired when the owner of the property got wind of the stranger in their house, with a playful twist on the morality of an illegal and foolhardy action. Y'know, like trying to mug a man down a side-alley whose just been awarded his latest black belt in karate.


Ooops, really. Sometimes it pays off hugely to know your enemy before you decided to pick on them.


And this lesson resonates from the first of these films about The Blind Man, former Navy Seal Norman Nordstrom and his rather unique method of dealing with house invaders. Given the first films' success, it is no wonder that we find ourselves here again, only with a new group of unsuspecting ne'er do wells up to no good in Nordstrom's sphere of ultimate influence. After adopting a young girl after a house fire (not sure how that would really work in the real world) The Blind Man must leave the quiet, safe solace of his home when the child is kidnapped.


Now I hadn't rushed to see this upon release as I found the original to be a little laboured and if I'm honest, it mostly ambled through its running time. Whilst admittedly it was a neat, original idea, and the performances were fine, I got the impression that much more could have been made of such a concept and that tip-toeing around a house for most of the running time wasn't challenging enough.


And this time it takes roughly about twenty minutes of setup before we're at it again. Now you take this from what you want and what you want is probably not as complex as maybe some other projects. This is inventive to the extent that the action sequences and consequences thereof are often wince-inducing, but never to the extent of the likes of say, Saw, for example. This never appears to be the intention of course, as I am sure if it was, the makers would be more than capable of doing something equally unpleasant.


In all honesty, this is little more than downloadable content for game you already liked, as opposed to a full blown new adventure. It rarely treads new ground and the main idea of a blind man with good intentions doing his best to protect himself and others from people intent on doing them harm is exactly the same, so it's safe to say that despite the odd scene hinting at some much need plot development, this is more of the same and lacks real originality because of it.



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