‘Blue Ruin’ rules

Just when you conclude that the Netflix movie catalog really is a steaming pile of two-star manure, you stumble across a gem. That’s what I discovered tonight in “Blue Ruin,” a taut, lean revenge thriller that defies everything you might expect from this sort of film.

For starters, it stars nobody you’ve ever heard of, and the protagonist is about as far from Liam Neeson as you can get. The character, Dwight Evans, is harmless and homeless and haunted by the death of his parents years before. He lives in his old Pontiac by the beach and Dumpster-dives for his meals. Then he gets word from a kindly policewoman that the guy convicted of killing Dwight’s parents is about to be released from prison.

I’ll stop there, except to note that Dwight has zero skills as an assassin. In large part, that’s what drives the suspense: Unlike Charles Bronson, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. He never has quite the right weapon for the situation. Things get messy, and then messier, and finally completely out of control. Through all of it, he retains a certain decency that only deepens his disadvantage.

It’s a violent movie, so there’s that. But even if that kind of thing bothers you, it’s worth sitting through just to see Eve Plumb in a small role that should banish forever any fond recollections about Jan Brady. Dave Bob calls it the best movie he’s seen this year! Seriously, check it out.