On the surface, Blue Ruin is a down-the-line, ticks all the boxes revenge thriller. What it actually is is something much different. The film comes from Jeremy Saulnier, who could be introducing a new genre to cinema: the multiple-twist movie.
Dwight is a real character and this is a real film. This is not big explosions and diving out of the way in style, this is Dwight bumbling his way through assassinations and flailing away from genuine threats. Despite what cinema may have taught you, violence is a bad thing. Violence has a memory. It's that realism that makes Blue Ruin such a nervy ride. Everything Dwight does has a consequence. He never gets away scott-free, he's constantly on the run from someone - and you never know where that someone is going to come from.
There are no moments of safety once Dwight has committed his first sin, and as such there are no moments of safety in Blue Ruin. It's a horribly tense film. At times it's an uncomfortable watch, but it's always a rewarding watch. It’s a thriller that feels like lightning; sudden, terrifying, and excitingly driven.
His sad, forlorn eyes never display anger at his victims or satisfaction with his acts. Dwight has almost been in stasis for decades. We can see that his inability to cope with his parents’ murder has wrecked his life, and his life has led to this. He hasn’t trained or prepared for it, but this revenge is the slow slide towards the inevitable. Blair masterfully displays Dwight’s resignation without ever making it appear like indifference. He’s a man walking to the gallows, but forced to kill some people on the way there.
Saulnier has given us so distinctively cliché in the revenge thriller and turned it on his head. He's made it real, violent and brash. And with Blair's performance on top of that, it's not to be missed.
Blue Ruin is out 2nd May