“Blue Ruin” (2013) is a provocative thriller starring Macon Blair as Dwight Evans, a homeless drifter who is contacted by police authorities to inform him that the man who murdered his parents is about to be released from prison. Inflaming the worst of Dwight’s simmering fury, this news sends him scurrying home to rural Virginia on a path of ferocity and fervent retribution.
Twenty years after the horrific murder of Dwight’s mother and father, Wade Cleland is set for early release after agreeing to a favorable plea bargain. Dwight sets his sights on Wade from the moment of his release and tracks him to a local bar, where their ultimate convergence proves to be a scene of stark brutality and purgative reprisal. To Dwight’s chagrin, however, he quickly finds himself under siege from Wade’s extended family members—a clan of outright brutes and vindictive agitators.
Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (“Green Room”, “Hold the Dark”), “Blue Ruin” is fierce and dynamic cinema, pulling no punches in its depiction of impassioned vengeance and personal reckoning. Bold, unapologetic and thrillingly suspenseful, “Blue Ruin” is a heads-up sleeper film recommendation for those with a taste for thrilling and rousingly amoral storytelling.
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