In a strange way, the blunt simplicity of Breaking In is genuinely fascinating. Here is a movie with an incredibly basic story- four men are looking to steal money in a home invasion when a family gets in the way. There are no plot twists or surprises. The characters range from thinly drawn heroes to vaguely offensive racial stereotypes. The film runs a compact 88 minutes, even though it feels like twice that. If there was any real art to what was on screen, one could almost call this an economical endeavor. But within the template of the home invasion thriller, director James McTeigue (best known for V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin) and screenwriter Ryan Engle (Rampage, a couple of Liam Neeson/Jaume Collet-Serra collaborations) find virtually nothing new or interesting to say. In the case of Breaking In, simplicity is not a virtue- it just exposes the general tedium of the experience. This is the film equivalent of a shrug.
Shaun Russell (Gabrielle Union) and her two kids (Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr) are taking a weekend trip up to the isolated mansion of her father, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Shaun and her late father had a tricky and difficult relationship, so she's having some seriously mixed feelings about his passing. But while real estate deals and other estate issues are dominating her life, Shaun has no idea that a group of armed invaders (Billy Burke, Richard Cabral, Levi Meaden, and Mark Furze) have infiltrated this fortress. The criminals were told that the house would be empty, but Shaun and her kids are throwing a wrench in the plans. While they're just looking for a safe full of infinite riches, the men kidnap Shaun's children and hold them hostage as a bargaining chip. Well, turns out they messed with the wrong mother.
And that's the movie! Shaun gets into a couple fights, she runs around a lot, and there are a few mildly suspenseful scenes to keep things somewhat engaging. But the sheer emptiness of Breaking In is almost staggering (or is it?), a film so completely devoid of substance that it practically evaporates into thin air. Everyone in the movie is.....fine, I guess? Gabrielle Union is determined and fierce, Billy Burke and Richard Cabral are appropriately frightening at times (even if Cabral's character treads dangerously into stereotypical territory), and Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr do a solid job of acting scared under dire circumstances. But it would help if the characters had any real definition to them, something to give the viewer a reason to care. The villains are one-note monsters who only want money, the kids are wide-eyed plot devices, and anything that could make Shaun compelling is glossed over in the early goings.
Breaking In is hopelessly shallow, but that's not necessarily a disqualifying factor for a film like this. If there was any real level of entertainment value or skilled filmmaking craft on display, McTeigue's film would probably be a good deal more fun. Instead, Breaking In takes place entirely in a poorly lit, visually indistinct mansion, repeating the same scenario over and over without ever adding much to the equation. Shaun quietly dashes from room to room, even generating a few unintentional chuckles from the audience along the way. Around the halfway point, it all begins to feel brutally repetitive, a whole lot of running and hiding without much payoff. And then it just keeps going and going, feeling exhausting even with a runtime under 90 minutes.
To be fair, Breaking In is forgettable and relatively inoffensive, so it's difficult to hate it too much. It's the kind of film that's never aggressively terrible, only flat and free of any serious distinguishing factors. If we're being honest, it's impossible to imagine anyone coming out of this movie with strong feelings of any kind. Silly and disposable, Breaking In is destined to fade from memory almost instantly.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (5.3/10)
Image: Universal/IMDb
Poster courtesy of Universal
Shaun Russell (Gabrielle Union) and her two kids (Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr) are taking a weekend trip up to the isolated mansion of her father, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Shaun and her late father had a tricky and difficult relationship, so she's having some seriously mixed feelings about his passing. But while real estate deals and other estate issues are dominating her life, Shaun has no idea that a group of armed invaders (Billy Burke, Richard Cabral, Levi Meaden, and Mark Furze) have infiltrated this fortress. The criminals were told that the house would be empty, but Shaun and her kids are throwing a wrench in the plans. While they're just looking for a safe full of infinite riches, the men kidnap Shaun's children and hold them hostage as a bargaining chip. Well, turns out they messed with the wrong mother.
And that's the movie! Shaun gets into a couple fights, she runs around a lot, and there are a few mildly suspenseful scenes to keep things somewhat engaging. But the sheer emptiness of Breaking In is almost staggering (or is it?), a film so completely devoid of substance that it practically evaporates into thin air. Everyone in the movie is.....fine, I guess? Gabrielle Union is determined and fierce, Billy Burke and Richard Cabral are appropriately frightening at times (even if Cabral's character treads dangerously into stereotypical territory), and Ajiona Alexus and Seth Carr do a solid job of acting scared under dire circumstances. But it would help if the characters had any real definition to them, something to give the viewer a reason to care. The villains are one-note monsters who only want money, the kids are wide-eyed plot devices, and anything that could make Shaun compelling is glossed over in the early goings.
Breaking In is hopelessly shallow, but that's not necessarily a disqualifying factor for a film like this. If there was any real level of entertainment value or skilled filmmaking craft on display, McTeigue's film would probably be a good deal more fun. Instead, Breaking In takes place entirely in a poorly lit, visually indistinct mansion, repeating the same scenario over and over without ever adding much to the equation. Shaun quietly dashes from room to room, even generating a few unintentional chuckles from the audience along the way. Around the halfway point, it all begins to feel brutally repetitive, a whole lot of running and hiding without much payoff. And then it just keeps going and going, feeling exhausting even with a runtime under 90 minutes.
To be fair, Breaking In is forgettable and relatively inoffensive, so it's difficult to hate it too much. It's the kind of film that's never aggressively terrible, only flat and free of any serious distinguishing factors. If we're being honest, it's impossible to imagine anyone coming out of this movie with strong feelings of any kind. Silly and disposable, Breaking In is destined to fade from memory almost instantly.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (5.3/10)
Image: Universal/IMDb
Poster courtesy of Universal
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