Blue Ruin [Blu-Ray]
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10
Plot Summary:
A mysterious outsider’s quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.
‘Blue Ruin’ tells the story of a mysterious wanderer, roaming and living out of an old car, scrounging for food in order to survive. Soon we discover something horrible has happened to this man and the person who caused this event has been released from prison. In a desperate attempt to find vengeance he goes after the individual, but considering his lack of experience in these types of situations he finds himself and those he cares about in even more trouble than before and he must decide if he has what is needed inside himself to try and take care of this mess once and for all.
Jeremy Saulnier delivers an absolutely phenomenal revenge thriller with ‘Blue Ruin’ which marks his sophomore outing as both writer and director. While I haven’t yet had the pleasure of his first feature ‘Murder Party’ I have heard good things regarding the film and especially now after the fantastic experience that was ‘Blue Ruin’ you can be assured that I will be making a point of checking it out in the very near future. Macon Blair (who it seems is long time friends with Saulnier as well as intended for the role all along) delivers a solid performance in the lead role. The majority of the cast is composed of individuals who I’m not personally aware of for the most part, but almost all of them provide impressive and capable performances in each of their respective supporting roles.
If you’re looking for an original and excellent gritty revenge thriller that isn’t afraid to get quite bloody at times, then you will certainly want to make sure to check out ‘Blue Ruin’ as soon as you get the chance. It brings all of the aspects you expect and love from a revenge thriller, while taking the basic formula and really switching things up from the norm in order to deliver a truly unique and fascinating slow burn thriller. This film will enthrall and immerse you, in addition to delivering a few surprises compared to what you have come to expect from the genre over the years. If you enjoy these types of movies at all, then ‘Blue Ruin’ is definitely not to be missed.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Blue Ruin’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty solid overall. All of the detail, movement and colors look perfect, down to the edges of the picture, while still managing to maintain that gritty feel that so adequately fits the vibe of the movie. This is a pretty top notch video presentation that I’m fairly certain will leave most folks very pleased.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless soundtrack sounds pretty great for the film and it does a wonderful job of really complimenting the feel of the film as a whole. It keeps a steady and calm pace for the majority of the runtime, but certainly isn’t afraid to branch out and hit hard when things get a bit intense. This DTS-HD MA track should definitely more than satisfy most.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Blue Ruin’ features a fair amount of interesting, informative and worthwhile bonus content. Included on the release is a featurette titled ‘No Regrets: The Making of Blue Ruin’ which gives a lot of insight into the creation of the film and a number of the issues prior to production. Also included are Deleted Scenes, a Camera Test starring Macon Blair and feature commentary with writer/director Jeremy Saulnier and actor Macon Blair. There are certainly some nice bonus goodies here to keep fans of the film entertained following their viewing of the film itself.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.