Blue Ruin is a 2013 American thriller film directed by Jeremy Saulnier.
The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Directors' Fortnight
section on May 17, 2013, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.
Saulnier funded production on the film through a successful Kickstarter campaign, which MTV.com
called "the perfect example of what crowdfunding can accomplish."
The film was released to theaters and VOD on April 25, 2014.
Plot Dwight is a beach vagrant, living out of his
car and scavenging through trash cans and dumpsters for food and money.
A policewoman finds Dwight and gives him the news that Wade Cleland, the man who murdered
his parents, is soon to be released from prison.
Dwight watches as Wade is released from prison and, after unsuccessfully trying to steal
a gun, sources a knife.
Dwight confronts Wade in a club's toilet and, after a brief fight, fatally stabs him in
the temple.
While trying to escape Dwight realizes he left his car keys in the toilet with Wade's
body, so he is forced to steal the Cleland Gang's limousine.
Dwight stops and lets a teenage boy out of the back of the limousine.
Dwight, after cleaning up his looks, visits his sister, Sam, for the first time in several
years.
Over an emotional conversation in a cafe, Dwight reveals that he has killed Wade.
His sister is shocked, but appears happy with the news.
Dwight also says he assumed she would have heard on the news, in which moment he realizes
it hasn't been on the news, meaning the Cleland Gang never contacted the police and are likely
seeking their own revenge on Dwight.
Because of this, Sam takes her two daughters and flees the area.
While his sister is gone, Dwight pitches up in her house to wait for the inevitable attack
from the Clelands.
He tries to escape the two that break into the house but manages to run one of the men
over.
He gets shot in the leg with an arrow by the other attacker, and then places the unconscious
body of the run over attacker into the trunk of his car.
He attempts home surgery on the wound, but is unable to extract it and must visit a local
hospital.
After waking up in the hospital he travels to meet an old high school friend to ask for
a favor.
He persuades the friend to lend him a rifle before traveling to a field to negotiate with
the man in his trunk in a bid to guarantee that the Clelands leave his sister alone.
During the conversation between Dwight and the man it is revealed that Wade was not his
parent's killer, but it was in fact Wade's father, who died of cancer - his motive being
that Dwight's father was having an affair with his wife.
The man in the trunk manages to wrestle Dwight's newly borrowed rifle from him and, as he is
aiming at Dwight lying on the ground, Dwight's friend fatally shoots him.
Wanting to leave him out of it, Dwight breaks the friends car so he cannot follow him any
further and he travels to the Cleland household.
He urinates on the grave of Wade's father and leaves a message on the answering machine.
Dwight buries the man that his friend shot.
When the Cleland family return, they hear the message from Dwight.
In the message, Dwight was asking for them to leave his sister alone as the score is
now equal in terms of family members murdered.
When it's clear that the Clelands won't agree to this, Dwight shoots a male member of the
family.
The teenage boy from the limousine, who Dwight does not know is present, shoots Dwight with
a shotgun.
Dwight hits the boy's shotgun away and states that he has "done his job", as he thinks he
will die from the shotgun wound.
Dwight asks the boy to leave using his car in the woods, and tells him that he is actually
his half brother.
In a rage, an older woman reaches for a machine gun hidden under a recliner and shots are
fired.
Dwight kills the remaining two women and, while lying on the floor spitting blood from
his mouth, repeatedly whispers "the keys are in the car".
Cast Macon Blair as Dwight Evans
Devin Ratray as Ben Gaffney Amy Hargreaves as Sam Evans
Kevin Kolack as Teddy Cleland Eve Plumb as Kris Cleland
David W. Thompson as William Brent Werzner as Carl Cleland
Stacy Rock as Hope Cleland Sidné Anderson as Officer Eddy
Reception Critical reception for Blue Ruin has been
extremely positive and the film currently holds a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes based
on 112 reviews with the consensus: "Smart, stripped-down, and thrillingly grim, Blue
Ruin proves that a well-told revenge story can still leave its audience on the edge of
their seat."
The film also has a score of 77 based on 32 reviews on Metacritic.
References
External links Official website
Blue Ruin at the Internet Movie Database Blue Ruin at Rotten Tomatoes