MovieChat Forums > Don't Breathe (2016) Discussion > Rocky was the real antagonist

Rocky was the real antagonist

posted 8 years ago by dankyblaze
6 replies | jump to latest

Think about it. She targets a blind man's house with the intention of stealing all of his money. Throughout the film she constantly chooses to put her own life and the lives she's with at jeopardy in order to avoid losing the stash.

The blind man, imo, was not very "evil." All the rich girl had to do, in return for taking the life of his daughter, is be a surrogate for nine months. She was fed well and she could return to her normal life after she delivers. Granted get family paid him off, but he clearly doesn't care about the money, otherwise he would have changed his horrible living conditions for the better. The only reason anyone died in this film is because an armed robbery put him in a position in which he had to defend himself.

Another reason why Rocky is the worst is because of how hypocritical she was. After *spoilers* Alex cut her down from the impregnation device ( another point for the blind man bc he doesn't rape), she wanted the police to punish him for what he's done. HOWEVER, in the final scene of the movie she finds out the blind man survived, and she doesn't care because she's already made it out with the money.

Rocky doesn't care about the well-being of her friends OR about justice. All she wanted was a payday so she could live out her fantasy.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] soulsk8ter225 8 years ago

I don't think "antagonist" means what you think it means.

An antagonist is somebody whose actions and ideals oppose that of a protagonist's, and a protagonist's job is to advance the story. It is also ordinarily the person we "root" for (though people will sometimes have their differences of course). A protagonist is not necessarily a good guy, just the main character.

In the film Ocean's Eleven, Danny and his crew rob three casinos. They commit grand larceny; they are criminals. Yet, they are protagonists. Are they good guys? They might be likable people, but they are not good guys. Neither is Memphis Raines in Gone In 60 Seconds, as he and his crew steal 50 cars overnight. In Mr. Brooks, Kevin Costner plays a serial killer. Then there are films like Seven where our two detectives are trying to stop a serial killer from committing his crimes.

Rocky is a protagonist because she is a lead role attempting to accomplish that which will get she and her daughter to the life they pursue. This would have been the case even if the blind man was a saint. We can feel bad for the blind man, but the blind man is still the antagonist in this story.

** Rest in peace, Timothy Volkert (1988 - 2003) **

[–] dankyblaze 8 years ago

I appreciate your thought-out response. In film school, the definition of antagonist can vary, and I was going by the sense that the antagonist is merely the opposer to the wishes or intent of the protagonist. Since there is so much moral ambiguity in the film, it is technically possible to argue for either side being the protagonist or antagonist.

But this is side-tracking from my main point, that Rocky ended up being a more immoral and unethical character than the blind man. I rather enjoyed the movie very much, I just thought I'd gage what others had to say, since all I've read on this board and in reviews is how evil the blind man was, and I just don't see it that way.

[–] jasonx_1990 8 years ago

All the rich girl had to do, in return for taking the life of his daughter, is be a surrogate for nine months. She was fed well and she could return to her normal life after she delivers.

Would you say this was perfectly reasonable.

[–] yudhawn 8 years ago

she's the annoying villain, white trash awful human being greedy
sob

[–] yuankun99 8 years ago

She was the real villain of this movie and makes me sick to see people rooting for her.

She only cared about the money. She got her real friend Alex killed. The guy was blindly in love for her, he didn't want to do this robbery, he came back for her more than once. And she didn't even tried to clear his name once she got away. She should have confessed everything.

When her boyfriend was getting killed she just watched and didn't do anything. She could have thrown something on the blind man head but she did nothing.

Is beyond me how this movie score is so high, maybe teens love the actress of this movie, but her characters doesn't deserve any love.

So, having a bad mom and no dad makes it ok for you to steal and get away with murderer? She got both of her friends killed. Alex was so in-love with her that didn't realize that she only needed his skills and nothing more.