Before Rebel Ridge, Jeremy Saulnier Perfected His Style with Blue Ruin

After five years, multiple delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a major rewrite, Rebel Ridge Finally, director Jeremy Saulnier is here. He was a huge hit with action movie fans in the 2000s (especially after the brutally brutal Green room), was first conceived through the thriller film that deals with the theme of vigilance. Rebel Ridge In 2019, with John Boyega in the lead role, but the Covid pandemic postponed filming to 2022. When I started During filming, John Boyega left mid-production, allegedly for family reasons. And even after filming wrapped, his fate seemed uncertain, as he reportedly spent two years in post-production before Netflix suddenly announced his exclusive streaming release this summer.

While Saulnier has yet to make a real breakthrough into the mainstream, he is beloved in sectarian circles. For its storytelling style, unbearable suspense, and brutal violence. And yet, Rebel Ridge Saulnier looks set to make another worthy addition to his collection. However, Saulnier's most notable achievement may still be his success in 2014, Blue Ruinwho infused a classic tale of revenge with his already fully formed voice.

What is Blue Ruin?

Blue Ruin The film revolves around Dwight Evans (Macon Blair, who later directed the unreleased film) toxic avenger The film follows a homeless man who lives in his car. After hearing the news that Wade Cleland, the man convicted of murdering his parents, has been released, Dwight returns to his hometown in Virginia, determined to exact revenge. In fact, he does so early on—Wade's murder proves to be the true inciting incident of the story.

As is often the case with Saulnier's work, the problems pile up from here.After dropping his car keys, Dwight is forced to flee in a getaway car, and the sadistic Wade family soon discovers who their brother's killer is after tracing his car's registration. Worse, it's registered to his sister Sam's address, forcing Dwight to now protect himself and his remaining family. While escaping an attack by Wade's brothers, Dwight accidentally runs over one of them, forcing him to be put in the trunk of the car.

Believe it or not, things continue to escalate from here as Dwight enlists his old high school friend, Ben, for more help. As they interrogate Wade's brother, Teddy, it becomes clear that the circumstances surrounding Dwight's parents' deaths may not be what they seemed. This leads to a thunderous climax between Dwight and the rest of the Wade family.demonstrating the futility of revenge and how its cyclical nature threatens to consume everything in its path and possibly claim more innocent lives.

This setup may seem simple, but as with Saulnier’s other films, the genius lies in the execution. He wisely keeps the plot pared down to its absolute essentials, with almost no filler scenes. While he also keeps the character development sparse, he still manages to generate sympathy from the audience in the hope that they will survive. Most importantly, Saulnier treats his audience with respect; his heroes and villains alike interact in believable and humane ways, and as such, The movie feels like a cat and mouse game as the suspense reaches breaking point..

Blue Ruin is a wonderfully directed and rebellious movie.

Let's start with the obvious, Blue Ruin It is a flawlessly made film.There’s a reason Jeremy Saulnier became a must-see name immediately after the film’s release: It’s only the second film in his career where he’s demonstrated a fully formed voice and confidence behind the camera (and even more impressive considering it cost less than half a million dollars to make). The minimalist cinematography captures everything we need to see without drawing attention to itself, never dragging the film out and always serving the story. Meanwhile, the sound design is used almost flawlessly; Saulnier maintains a calm air throughout most of the runtime, giving us a sense of security before he jolts us with sudden bouts of violence.

But it's the pace that really makes it. Blue Ruin singsWith a runtime of just under two hours, Saulnier makes sure not a single moment is wasted. Every scene advances the plot in some way; things build to the climactic explosion of violence, and the film ends where it should, without dragging its feet. What’s even more impressive is how much of it is accomplished without dialogue; there are vast swaths of the story where almost no one speaks, and the film showcases the talent of Saulnier and lead actor Macon Blair in that they still manage to tell us everything we need to know.

In a genre as crowded as the revenge movie, Blue Ruin He could have fallen into a number of moral pitfalls or risked feeling indistinguishable from his peers. taken Instead, the film proves memorable for the way it deconstructs the revenge thriller, making it perhaps the most subversive work in the genre since 2011's brilliant film. LeadsDwight Evans isn't the kind of unstoppable action hero you'd expect from Liam Neeson or Keanu Reeves these days; he's an ordinary man, ill-equipped for the daunting task ahead of him and clearly overmatched.

It’s significant that Saulnier allows Dwight to kill Wade so early in the runtime. While he never tones down the gruesome, brutal violence of his action scenes, he’s less interested in the journey of revenge than in the unforeseen consequences that come from achieving it. Dwight’s reckless actions put Wade’s entire family on his trail and inadvertently put his sister in danger, demonstrating how a clean escape from revenge is impossible. Saulnier also underscores the absurdity of the revelation that Wade may not have killed his parents in the first place.

Blue Ruin was a well-deserved departure for Jeremy Saulnier.

monitoring Blue RuinIt's no wonder that Jeremy Saulnier has instantly become a household name among action fans as the next great filmmaker. With only his second feature film, He had already demonstrated a clear understanding of tone, craft, and genre, and it was clear that he had a promising career ahead.Extreme stress. Green room We have validated these feelings, and while we had to wait a while for him to return, we couldn't be happier that he is finally back with Rebel RidgeEspecially since its ratings are among the best this year. Blue Ruin Streaming on Tubi and Amazon FreeVee. Rebel Ridge It is streaming on Netflix.