Don’t Breathe 2 Review: A Fun and a Cheesy Slasher!

Alright, so, Don’t Breathe 1 was a surprise film that took a boilerplate idea of a home invasion and turned it on its head, making it one of the most disturbing, clever, and compelling horror films of recent years. It was inevitable that we would be getting a sequel at some point. Don’t Breathe 2, in some ways, tries to capture the magic of the original while also changing direction to something new. Does it work?

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Coming off a brilliantly made horror film, Don’t Breathe 2 doesn’t play with any of your expectations of being a copy and paste rehash of the first film. Taking from the atmosphere of John Wick, Don’t Breathe 2 manages to keep a slight tinge of that original tone while making this change and leaning more into the action. For the most part, this works on the surface level and is incredibly fun to watch Stephen Lang’s character kill these people.

The villains aren’t perfect, most of them are highly unmemorable cannon fodder, but they aren’t actively annoying. Primarily Adam Young, who is underused, in my opinion. The action and gore work well. Not overly disturbing for those who found the first movie to be a tad bit too extreme.

As for me, I didn’t get a whole lot out of the more tame approach, but I still had fun, and the small clever moments do show that work and effort went into this film. With the writing a little less so.

So before we get to the elephant in the room, as I’ve said before, Don’t Breathe 2 is an action film, first and foremost. Still having small thriller elements, the plot of this film, because it leans more action, becomes very predictable, and thus much of the tension is ruined.

Instead replaced with moments of John Wick style tension, never do you worry for the safety of a character like the original. Now the other component at play here is having Stephen Lang’s character be the lead. Because we know just how bad this man was in the original, we’re supposed to be rooting for him in this? No.

The majority of the time, you’re waiting for him to die because of the baggage you as an audience member carry over from the first film. However, once we get to the midway twist and the movie tries to justify the next act by saying “we’ll see they’re actually worse,” it almost comes off as comedic.

This, added on top of some pacing issues in the transition from the second to the third act, leaves this film feeling like it’s missing something. That something is the heart and soul that was originally there.

Okay so, I know I just said this film feels soulless, but I still had a fun time watching it. If you take it as its own thing and not a direct sequel, you’ll have a blast, and if you do look at it as a sequel (like I did), it’ll be less so, but it’ll still have entertainment in it.

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Out of the movies I was excited for this year, I’ve been disappointed, so going into a film I didn’t know what to expect, I can safely say this was a fun time. Don’t Breathe 2 is a ball to watch in the cheesy slasher movie way and doesn’t take a lot of investment to enjoy. I appreciate that mentality in a film and can say this was a blast to watch at the movies and would easily recommend it.

‘Don’t Breathe 2’ Rating – 3/5

Review by Kevin W
Follow Kevin on Instagram – @alrightsoreviews

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