Don’t breathe 2

This month of August was a month under the sign of genre films with our coverage of the Fantasia (Canada) and Frightfest (United Kingdom) festivals. We were able to discover some excellent films but above all we were able to familiarize ourselves with the important rules to make films with a reduced budget without impinging on the real quality of the film. In this sense, the discovery of the film Don't Breathe 2, which follows the first part directed by Fede Álvarez, also co-writer of this film and the previous one, convinced us and surprised us by its audacity to refuse the easy way at all costs.

While many horrific sequels seem to follow the outline of the original film, for example the cinematographic sagas Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street or more recently Saw, Don't Breathe 2 leaves the model of the simple home invasion film to be more oriented towards a revenge movie and this by putting in the center of the story the character Norman Nordstrom (always embodied to perfection by the actor Stephen Lang) who appeared in the first installment as the villain of the film and the secondary character. We suspected that such a perfectly played character deserved a sequel. With the same team of writers, the same producers, the same director of photography and the same composer Roque Baños, this sequel, even if it loses in efficiency compared to the first part, proves to be a mastered sequel that holds all our attention without any noticeable drop in rhythm.

After an introductory scene as simple as spectacular in which we discover a young girl lying on the ground and who seems to have managed to escape from a house that has burned, the action takes place a few years later. We discover this young girl seeming to escape from an assailant pursuing her as well as from an aggressive dog seeming to run after her. This scene as simple as very successful shows that this young girl was adopted by Norman Nordstrom and that he trained her to survive. We remember that in the first part, Norman Nordstrom took revenge on the woman who had killed his daughter in a car accident by keeping her in his cellar and impregnating her so that she could give him a replacement child. Norman Nordstrom is not a psychopath and even less a serial killer, he is just a man who has lost his faith and has had his humanity taken away by killing his daughter. Don't Breathe 2 succeeds in revisiting this character who seems to have regained faith in himself by taking in a young girl and adopting her as if she were his own daughter. However, things soon get out of hand again when a gang of thugs breaks into Norman Nordstrom's house, kills his dog and kidnaps the girl he considers his daughter. 

This blind war veteran must use his military training to save the young orphan girl he has adopted from a group of thugs who break into his house and whose real reason seems to be to have a real grudge against the girl (we won't say why, but it's a great idea and it's perfectly executed in the story). As in the first part, Norman Nordstrom will once again show all his hatred and strength to settle his accounts and show that even if he is blind he is capable of fighting with violence and that one should not stand in his way. While he was the villain of the first part, here he becomes an instrument of revenge and like Rambo, he will use violence to achieve his goals. The violent scenes here are not just a mechanical illustration of the story, they are there to reinforce the climate of the film and are shown sparingly. In the same way that James Cameron made Arnold Schwarzenegger the villain of the first part and the hero of the second part, the director and co-writer Rodo Sayagues makes Norman Nordstrom an authentic vigilante.

Of course, this movie would have deserved to have much more original villains, as they seem at times to be stereotypes from the Death Wish movie saga and just there to be killed to the great pleasure of the audience. Having neither the military preparation of Norman Nordstrom nor the rage to defend his home and loved ones, they are only characters who don't realize who they are really dealing with.

While the first part was a home invasion as violent as it was scary, we feel in this sequel a real will to enlarge Norman Nordstrom's universe and to make him a man wishing to redeem himself by delivering the one he considers as his daughter. Less violent than the first part, Don't Breathe 2 doesn't disappoint as the inspired direction of Rodo Sayagues served by the solid interpretation of Stephen Lang makes this film really one of the good surprises of this summer's releases. In the same way as the first part, the work on the sound and especially the use of the music is remarkable so much that it gives to this film a very particular aura reinforcing easily our adhesion.

Finally, we advise you to stay until the end of the credits to discover a scene announcing maybe a sequel, at least we hope so.

Don't Breathe 2
Directed by Rodo Sayagues
Written by Fede Álvarez, Rodo Sayagues
Based on Characters by Fede Álvarez, Rodo Sayagues
Produced by Fede Álvarez, Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert
Starring Stephen Lang, Brendan Sexton III, Madelyn Grace
Cinematography: Pedro Luque
Edited by Jan Kovac
Music by Roque Baños
Production companies : Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films, Ghost House Pictures, Bad Hombre
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date : August 13, 2021 (United States), August 25, 2021 (France)
Running time : 99 minutes

Seen on August 25, 2021 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 9 place A19

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