Breaking In

May 11, 20185 min

Most of us have heard of a mother’s ability to do unbelievable acts in order to protect their children. You might have heard a story about how a mom fought off a pack of bobcats with nothing but a yoga mat or how one mother was able to lift a car in order to get to her kid. While I might have made those stories up you know in your heart’s heart you believed they could be true. None of this shows up in “Breaking In” but in my eyes Gabrielle Union takes it to the next level.

Union’s character Shaun Russell has just lost her dad and while they might not have been on speaking terms she still nonetheless helping wrap up his estate. Included in that is a pretty nice lake house in which Shaun is going up to get things ready for it to be put on the market. With her is her daughter Jasmine (Ajiona Alexus) and her son Glover (Seth Carr) who know little about this part of their mother’s life. Once at the house they find it is pretty well fortified and it doesn’t take long to find out why when men show up and get ahold of Shaun’s kids while she is fending for herself outside. The group of men is led by a guy named Eddie (Billy Burke), who have come to the house looking for a safe full of money. Like most well thought-out plans things don’t go right with the main reason being Shaun who seems to be causing way more trouble than your typical movie mom is capable of. Things continue to go downhill for the bad guys as they learn the hard way to never get between and mother and her kids no matter what.

This movie has been what it feels like a long time coming. Too often women characters are not strong enough to protect their family more than making a phone call to the police, not the case with “Breaking In”. Ryan Engle writes a strong lead in which Union delivers home and making you believe she could do just about anything to save her kids. The suspense is there as you go through a roller coaster of wanting to cheer at the victories or gasp at the close calls. All though it is not perfect as there are some missteps, something common in a thriller like this and one that just didn’t sit well with me. The usual stuff I am referring to are the foreshadowing of the things that will come to play later down the line which really just checks the boxes on a studio thriller. My disappointment comes with the rating and not because I wanted to see more blood but when the lead bad guy has to threaten his crew to get back in line he uses the work freaken, which kind of takes the toughness right out of him. This gripe didn’t make me dislike the movie anymore just kind of took the edge off a little. “Breaking In” is a good thriller with a fantastic lead in Union and no better way to say this it’s one bad mother….oh right, PG-13.

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