z28rikard First of all I have to raise my hands to Macon Blair. What an astonishing performance. And what a debut for both him and for Jeremy Saulnier. The first 15 minutes are as good as any Ridley Scott production.You get the Thelma & Louise feel going.... The filtered light, the scenery, the close-ups, the simple but strong plot evolves to an astonishing masterpiece.All of it perfection. I really like the Anti-hero theme in this. I have always rooted for the underdog all my life. And here we have it on film. Lucky me, lucky us. I have a feeling that we have the Tarantino of the 2010 and on, here. Just check out Green Room and you will see that this is not a fluke.Good luck to this film-team. Cause they are sticking together for a long time, is my guess.God speed everyone.

Leofwine_draca BLUE RUIN is a fine revenge thriller of the type that you thought America couldn't make anymore. These low-fi films are the opposite of the bloated and glossy Hollywood-style blockbuster and all the better for it. The film I can most liken it to is THE ROVER, a similar low-key Aussie story about the path of revenge and the unusual outcomes that one must face when embarking down it.To say too much about the plot of BLUE RUIN would be to spoil it, so I won't. What I will say is that this is a slow paced and spare film that keeps you gripped throughout, including in the moments where not much happens. It has a drive and consistency that makes it work. The suspense keeps you hooked to the ensuing events and the violence, when it comes, is brief but extremely hard-hitting. A squad of naturalistic performances enhance a film in which realism is key, and the result is one of the freshest American thrillers to be made in years.

tomgillespie2002 During Blue Ruin's festival run in 2013, I recall hearing whispers of a new visionary in the vein of the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino who was unafraid to shock and rattle the audience with sudden explosions of violence combined with jet-black humour. While Jeremy Saulnier's second feature, following 2007's Murder Party, certainly has elements of the Coen's claustrophobic neo-noir work, the Tarantino comparisons are completely misjudged. Blue Ruin is very much the work of a director sculpting his own vision, and one that will keep you glued to your seat as the film twists and turns, deliberately dodging nearly every trope of the revenge drama.While most revenge flicks begin with an act of violence that will lead its scarred protagonist on their journey of righting a wrong, Blue Ruin's initial hook is that it opens slowly and ominously, with a dirty, bearded man breaking into a home to take a bath. When the family arrive home, he flees into the neighbourhood naked, stealing clothes from a nearby washing line. Ragged and apparently half- starved, the man stumbles back to his home - a hollowed-out blue car (the 'blue ruin' of the title) in the middle of a field. This, as it turns out, is Dwight, our great hero, played with astonishing subtlety by Macon Blair, and a visit from the police quickly sets him on a vastly different path. The man responsible for something horrific in Dwight's past has been released from prison, so he heads back to his hometown seeking revenge.The revenge is not the final goal of the film, as this is carried out early on in particularly gruesome and realistic fashion. Instead, it is the repercussions that place Dwight and his estranged family in a situation they can either flee from or face head-on. The victim of Dwight's act has his own family, only they are all gun- wielding criminals, and the lack of news coverage of the incident can only mean one thing - they have decided to take matters into their own hands. Although they are rarely seen throughout the course of the film, you get the sense that they are never far behind, forcing Dwight to seek help from and old childhood friend, ex-Army good ol' boy Ben (Devin Ratray - who I only realised after the film had finished played the bullying Buzz in Home Alone (1990)), and his arsenal of firearms.While it may sound like the film veers off into the realms of gun fantasy, it really doesn't. The relative ease in which Dwight acquires weaponry only gives the film an underlying anti-gun message, and the scenes of bloody violence are certainly anything but pornographic. They are ugly and revolting, as are many of the film's characters, even the ones we're on the side of. Non-preachy themes aside, the main pleasures to be had with Blue Ruin are during its smaller moments. This is a film where a burst tyre or an accidentally self-inflicted knife wound to the hand don't simply provide an excuse for a set-piece, but pose serious problems for its antagonist. Despite the film moving at a slow pace for the most part, it's entirely nerve-jangling and almost scary, as it's almost impossible to guess where the movie may be heading. While I feel Saulnier's next slice of terror Green Room is a better film, this is only a sign of a director perfecting his craft.

ledzeppelin302 It's hard to breakdown what I loved about this movie in just 1,000 words, but let me just start off by saying that this is one of the most refreshing thrillers I've seen in quite some time.The first thing that makes it great, among a number of superb qualities, is that the film never holds your hand. There's never any lame exposition, as all the answers are laid out visually for the audience.In fact, the characters in this film, despite very strong performances from all involved, have very little dialogue. Macon Blair, the lead, is particularly good, often expressing exactly what he is feeling just through his facial expressions. The direction and cinematography in this film is masterful. There were so many beautiful, lingering shots that I truly lost count of the number of times I thought "Wow, that is gorgeous". Plot-wise, the film is simple and straightforward. We know from the get-go that the major theme of the movie is revenge; what it does to us, and what it can make us do, I felt like the film explored this in very satisfying, haunting way. If you have a strong stomach (the violence in this film is fast, visceral, and realistically portrayed), and are in the mood for a truly well-made thriller, this film is definitely for you.