April 7th, 2014 
James Shotwell 
Film: Blue Ruin
Starring: Macon Blair
Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier
A man taking revenge on the person who murdered his parents whilst overcoming violent obstacles to get to his objective, sounds a bit familiar right? Good thing Blue Ruin is a rare film that can play off of those well-known revenge-thriller tropes while also giving the viewer a lot to chew on morally and psychologically. For a film that is marketed as 2014’s version of Death Wish, Blue Ruin is thankfully a film that begs more from the audience than just a fetishistic need to see blood letting on screen.
Blue Ruin follows Dwight (Macon Blair), who after 20 years of solitude because of his parents’ murder has decided to come back to the surface of society when his parents’ killer is released from jail. Sporting an old beat up sedan (which is also his home), minimal money and a lack of stealth skills, Dwight decides to take vengeful justice on said killer, Carl Cleland (Brent Werzner). What follows is Dwight’s escape from the Cleland family, his subsequent protection and warning to his sister, Sam (Amy Hargreaves), about the horrors that may befell her family and the race against time to remove all threats to his life.
Revenge, an overwrought theme used in an excuse to violence, is used in the exact way that transcends that trope. Revenge in this film is like a disease that starts out from the moment we feel anger towards someone and only grows more as that hatred blooms into pure evil. Dwight is turned from suburban man with a good living into this disjointed mess of a man burdened with the grief that the Cleland family struck down upon his life. Being a man of few words, his actions speak very clearly to his intentions, much like Ryan Gosling’s performance in Drive but with even more moral ambiguity.
Now, the violence presented in the film is actually very sparse and you can see that the director, Jeremy Saulnier, intended every violent sequence to stay with the viewer instead of just acting exploitatively. Every shot to the face and stab to the gut made me cringe in an enthralling way.
The humor in the film is top notch too; think of the deadpan humor utilized in No Country For Old Men but a little more straightforward and universally understandable. Saulnier balances the seriousness of the events in the film with humor to go along with the moments of startling violence. Any film that can make me laugh after a man is brutally murdered is one that deserves to be recognized on that aspect of craft.
Saulnier is definitely a force to be reckoned with when it comes to how he shoots a scene too. The beautiful countryside landscape that some of the events take place in are beautifully juxtaposed to the pacing and often times alluring way of putting a new twist on the revenge theme.
Dwight at one point during the film takes a U-turn in his mind with the subject of revenge. He becomes so embroiled in a violent journey that he realizes that there is no turning back; he has gone way too far down the rabbit hole. He is fully self-aware of the injustices he has done by retaliating and has come to terms with the fact that he may not make it out of this alive.
All respect is given to the filmmakers involved with Blue Ruin in that they are able to portray such a great and sprawling story in only 90 minutes. Artists that can get their point across in a taut manner while leaving the audience with something to chew on are my favorite and Saulnier has now been added to that list.
Now even though I do have a great amount of love for Blue Ruin, it is not a wholly perfect film in any sense. Some minor tweaks in editing could have made this film an unforgettable one. Sometimes it feels that it is being over ambiguous with a somewhat ‘style over substance’ approach to the story. We do feel for Dwight’s journey and where that is going but a little more backstory to the Cleland’s family story would have given even more things for the audience to chew on. A minor gripe, I know but the ending felt a little forced with its shoehorning of plot twists only minutes before the end credits started to roll.
Nitpicks aside though, Blue Ruin is a great feature film that functions on so many levels that it is hard to decipher after just one sitting. Definitely check it out when you can and support what is most likely to be a long career for Saulnier.
Score: B
Written by: Sam Cohen (Twitter)
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