At first glance, the film seems very interesting and Breathe has a great cast on board to become a good film. Starring, we see Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, she received the prestigious figurine in 2007 for her adjoring role in the film Dreamgirls. Quvenzhané Wallis was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for the film Beasts of the Southern Wild in 2013, even becoming the youngest nominee ever in this category at the age of 9 years and 135 days. In addition, we see Milla Jovovich, who of course we all know from films like Resident Evil and The Fifth Element and for dessert we get Sam Worthington, who played Sully in James Cameron's Avatar- films and also has a laundry list of fine films to his name. There is also a (small) role for rapper Common in the film, which also played roles in John Wick: Chapter 2 and Wanted from 2008. The papers are basically good and the story also sounds very interesting. Still, if you see the trailer, this will probably make you doubt, because that looks rather cheap with the red/orange filter.
And unfortunately the trailer was right, because although the first reviews of this film were not too good and this is perhaps a bit very exaggerated, the film is just not good. Especially Sam Worthington, who plays the role of Lucas, really plays an extremely bad role in this film and he probably only played this role for the money and didn't really feel like it. Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson plays mom Maya who is left alone with her daughter Zora (who invents these names by the way) when father Darius disappears without a trace when he wants to bury his father. Hudson does her thing dutifully and doesn't know how to impress or anything like that. Quvenzhané Wallis, who therefore plays the role of Zora, makes a bit of an attempt and perhaps she plays the best role in the film, although we should not exaggerate that either. That remains Milla Jovovich, who plays the role of Tess, who just does her thing and nothing more actually.
The story is put together too simple and you get to see a 'home invasion' movie, where you actually know from the first minute what is going to happen. Not much attempt is made to disguise the course a bit or make it exciting. Here and there the film eventually becomes a bit entertaining when Maya and Tess go out and Lucas and Zora are left alone. In the end, the film will go exactly as you think it will go. The end really makes no sense at all and above all that gives the feeling that the whole fight has been completely for nothing. When Tess and Lucas travel all the way to New York from Philadelphia to watch and get their hands on an oxygen machine, they really had discovered what happened in the end and that gives the film a full stab in the back. Fortunately, the film lasts an hour and a half, but even that still feels like a pure waste of time.
Breathe has unfortunately become what the trailer already suggests, a pure B- film that tries to tear on a few names. Although the story has a lot of potential and sounds very interesting, you eventually get to see a cheap 'home invasion' movie. Here and there the film is still a bit entertaining, but if actually rapper Common puts down one of the best roles with his very small role in the film, you already know enough. How these kinds of films eventually manage to make a cinema internationally is really a mystery, in the past this had ended up directly in the video libraries. Don't be fooled by names like Sam Worthington or Milla Jovovich and don't be tempted at all that the two protagonists have been an Oscar winner and an Oscar nominee, because this film is simply not worth going to a cinema. For the really curious among us, you can wait for the movie to come to a streaming service or so and even then the movie is just not good.
