Clickonline writes: "Blue Ruin may be a smaller scale film but it absolutely deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. For all its indie heritage, it’s easily the best revenge thriller I’ve seen in cinemas for years and while it will probably find most of its audience via home media it’s gorgeous, gritty and gripping enough to make it worth catching in a theatre if you can."
While plenty of revenge films before have focused on single-minded characters, often coming with exceptional skill, the protagonists of Blue Ruin and Cold in July are but everyday Joes. The startling effect of this ordinary veneer over a loaded genre produces a striking contrast, as well as a familiarity that brings the messaging that much closer to home.
TF:
There’s a scene in Blue Ruin where our vengeful hero, Dwight Evans (Macon Blair), is shot in the leg by a crossbow. Hobbling to a late-night store, he purchases pliers and a hacksaw and sets about some self-surgery. Only he’s not Rambo and Blue Ruin is not your everyday, predictable thriller. Cut to Dwight screaming and stumbling to hospital, his ragged leg now five times worse than it was before.
A hit on the festival circuit, Jeremy Saulnier’s low-budget stunner starring his best mate from school is a compelling hybrid. It starts off as a slow-burn character study, offering little exposition as we track a bedraggled homeless guy with mental health issues. Then the mists of mystery drift away and Blue Ruin morphs into a revenge thriller splattered with momentsof black comedy and existential horror.
Funny, violent and lobbing narrative curveballs like a young Schwarzenegger tossing hand grenades, Blue Ruin exerts its tension so covertly you’ll be shocked to discover that gasping noise in the cinema is being made by you.
Clickonline writes: "There's action, horror and more, with genius flashes of humour throughout that help to keep you totally off balance right up to the killer finale."
