The critical reviews for Don't Breathe 2 are in, and they all agree on one thing: The main character is still not someone to root for. The first Don't Breathe, released in 2016, was a surprise hit that grossed $157.8 million on a $9.9 million budget. It followed a trio of petty thieves (led by Jane Levy's Rocky) as they break into the house of blind veteran Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) with an eye on stealing the large sum of cash he has. However, they soon become the prey when Norman - also often referred to as the Blind Man - unleashes an Terminator-like skillset and starts picking them off one by one.

Don't Breathe's success, also bolstered by positive reviews, led to the development of a sequel. With Rodo Sayagues taking over from Fede Alvarez as director (though Alvarez still helped pen the script), Don't Breathe 2 picks up some eight years after the first movie and finds the Blind Man living with a young girl he's raising as his replacement daughter (Madelyn Grace). When she's taken by a vicious group of criminals, Norman sets off on another violent rampage to get her back.

Related: How Don't Breathe 2 Is Betraying The First Movie's Story

Ahead of Don't Breathe 2's release in theaters this weekend, critical reviews have made their way online. As it stands at the time of this writing, the movie holds a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating a very mixed response. For comparison's sake, the first Don't Breathe earned a Certified Fresh 88%. Below are some samples from reviews, along with links to the full pieces.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety

In the case of “Don’t Breathe 2,” one reason the movie, for all the operatic (and often absurd) grisliness of its second half, isn’t quite as good as the original is that the original didn’t have a trace of that franchise self-consciousness. In this one, you can feel Stephen Lang’s Nordstrom being elevated to a “mythological” level. (There’s even a post-credits teaser.)

Eric Eisenberg, CinemaBlend

Gone are the complicated and sympathetic characters, not to mention the unique approach to subgenre, and what’s left is the expectation that we’re supposed to root for a murderer/rapist in a plot that manages to be both disappointingly basic and ludicrously stupid.

Aaron Pruner, IGN

Stephen Lang returns as Norman in Don’t Breathe 2, and his physical and emotional endurance keeps things interesting. However, the movie's full of clunky dialogue, underdeveloped characters, and unbelievable scenarios.

Chris Evangelista, SlashFilm

Exploring the inner workings of the blind man, played once again by Stephen Lang, isn’t a bad idea – in theory. In fact, there’s something novel about a slasher sequel that attempts to make its slasher the main character. The problem is that Don’t Breathe 2 asks for too much sympathy for the devil.

William Bibbiani, The Wrap

All of the film’s most baffling, distancing decisions stem from a single, central drive: to find some way to redeem, or at least forgive, the monster these filmmakers created. But what’s really fascinating is that Sayagues and Alvarez took that approach in the first place instead of allowing their monster to simply remain a monster.

John DeFore, THR

The first Don’t Breathe tested our credulity a bit, but let us pretend we believed a sightless vet could kill three would-be thieves on the strength of his smarts and training. Here, when we see the man whip out a pistol and shoot three soldiers from across the room, disbelief gets a bit harder to suspend. Lang is a great fit for the part, intensely physical and almost preverbal, but the filmmakers ask too much.

Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

Don’t Breathe 2 expands the world a bit, upping the ante on the action and body count, offering more inventive and impressive set pieces in the process. The downside is that this sequel doesn’t manage to inject or sustain the same taut, nail-biting tension levels that made its predecessor stand out.

Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

In the first film, those breaking in were of course unarguably reprehensible but they were also given a “right, but” backstory, struggling to survive in the economically depressed climate of Detroit, desperate for relief. Here they’re made as cartoonishly awful as possible (led by a snarling, silly Brendan Sexton III) and their ultimate plan for the girl so laughably repulsive that suddenly, problematically, Nordstrom is made to seem like the better option. The film’s “everyone is awful” emo worldview would perhaps be more forgivable, or at least tolerable, if the film was at least base-level competent.

Dont Breathe 2 - Stephen Lang fight

The general consensus seems to be that the first Don't Breathe is much better than the second. Part of the novelty of the 2016 movie was that it introduced a new spin on the classic home invasion genre. The second time around, the scares aren't much different. Though some reviews were kinder and promised there's still some enjoyable thrills, it mainly sounds like Don't Breathe 2 doesn't do much to justify its existence.

The most pressing issue facing Don't Breathe 2, though, is Norman himself. Anyone who has seen the first movie will know he does some pretty reprehensible things, like murder and rape. And yet, the basic premise of Don't Breathe 2 places him in the hero position. Though Lang previously said the Blind Man would pay for his sins, the reviews don't indicate that actually happens. Audiences can form their own opinions about how Don't Breathe 2 handles Norman's morality, and they could very well differ from the critics. Just going off of what's been said so far, the latest installment in this saga doesn't sound like a worthy one.

More: Don't Breathe 2: Is The Blind Man The Hero Or Villain? Controversy Explained

Source: Various (see above)

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