"Don't Breathe": Not as simple as Good Guys vs. Bad Guys.

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2016)

How can we genuinely root for either "side" in the crime thriller "Don't Breathe"? Both are reprehensible. And yet each in their own way also manage to stimulate an investment of pathos and pity.
On the one hand we have the trio of desperate young folks, whom life has collectively exploded a big ol' gigantic sh-- bomb all over while they slowly disintegrate in the dregs of Detroit. We feel for these kids, yeah. But not overly so. After all, it is of their own free will that they engage in a series of suburban home break-in robberies, with the most unstable among them the only one who is armed. Not exactly keen inspiration for advocacy on behalf of the audience with this boorish bunch, is there? Enter the other component in the equation presented in "Don't Breathe". He is "The Blind Man", a Gulf War vet who lost his eyesight in battle fighting for his country, and whose misfortune is compounded by the tragic loss of his only child, a daughter who was accidentally run down by a car. Instant sympathy for this sorrowful soul, right? Ah, but not so fast. Consider that this guy is also liable for kidnapping, imprisonment and torture, all within the creepy confines of his dilapidated domicile, and even the most compassionate among us are given pause to reconsider our position.
So, given the respective parties in "Don't Breathe", it is for us, then, to examine and assess where we come down regarding any potential allegiances as we watch the grim and grisly proceedings play out in this house of horrors.
Until, at last, it is game over.
Or IS it?......