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Breaking In
(Universal Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
The home-invasion thriller was a dime-a-dozen genre that seemed to become a prevalent genre in the past decade. The latest entry, “Breaking In,” offers an updated take on the genre with a female heroine as well as a setting inside a secured fortress. Don’t expect anything new and special out of this, though, it follows what’s been done before.
It’s directed by James McTeigue, who made a name for himself as the director of the Wachowskis-produced “V for Vendetta.”
Shaun (Gabrielle Union) takes her two kids Jasmine (Ajiona Alexus) and Glover (Seth Carr) to the estate home of her late father in Wisconsin for the weekend. Though she’s been estranged from her old man, the house is full of memories for the young mother. Her young son discovers that the house is full of security cameras, probably because of the estate the old man was willing to protect. Later that night, the family finds themselves in a terrifying situation.
A small group of thieves led by Eddie (Billy Burke) breaks into the house looking for a hidden safe full of money. Shaun finds herself outside the house while her children are trapped inside with the desperate thieves. She uses both resources and her wits to outsmart the intruders and save her whole family.
The story has some potential to be an entertaining thriller about a mother protecting her children while being housed in a secured fortress, like an updated version of “Panic Room.” But the end result is a bland and forgettable endeavor that failed to add anything new to the proceedings. The script follows the same beats as before with the thieves breaking in, victims try to survive, and everything ends in a chase and fight to the death. Something more unique could’ve added to the story to make it stand out from the crowd.
Another problem is the lack of suspense, mainly because of the movie’s short running time and the need to move things in a quicker pace. It’s very frustrating for anyone who has seen how this story play out in dozens of other movies like this that it becomes almost impossible to enjoy it. The action gets a little better by the climax but at that point, you just want to run out of the theater as quickly as the main character.
The acting is pretty decent, with Union bringing a very competent performance. She proves to be a pretty capable leading actress holding her own against a lame script. The kid actors are all right, while Burke and the other actors playing the bad guys do their jobs well.
There’s not much else to say other than the fact that “Breaking In” is best left placed at the $5 bargain bin at your local retailer. It’s not worth seeing in theaters when better titles like “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Deadpool 2” are still playing.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for violence, menace, bloody images, sexual references, and brief strong language)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2 Stars (Out of Four)
