Breaking In appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I found an attractive transfer here.
Sharpness seemed fine. Only mild instances softness materialized in a few interiors, so I viewed most of the film as a tight, distinctive image.
No issues with jaggies or moiré effects occurred, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the presentation.
In terms of colors, Breaking In went with a teal feel accompanied by splashes of orange/amber. This was expected from a modern thriller, so it’s unoriginal but typical of the genre circa 2018. The hues worked fine within those limitations.
Blacks seemed deep enough, and shadows showed good smoothness. I felt pleased by this well-rendered image.
In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fit the material. It used all the channels to give us music, and appropriate effects cropped up around the spectrum in a convincing manner.
Those elements meshed together in a concise way and helped give us a vivid sense of places and events. Not a ton of activity popped up, but when the track used the surrounds and sides in a lively way, it did so well.
Audio quality satisfied. Music was bright and bold, while speech came across as natural and distinctive.
Effects seemed accurate and dynamic, with clean highs and deep lows. The track worked fine for the material.
The Blu-ray includes both the movie’s “PG-13” theatrical version (1:28:01) as well as an unrated Director’s Cut (1:28:24). I only watched the longer edition, so I can’t comment directly on the changes.
That said, I suspect the “Director’s Cut” included a little extra violence that didn’t make the “PG-13” version, and it also came with a slew of “F-bombs” that wouldn’t fly with that rating. Given that the DC lasts a mere 23 seconds longer than the theatrical release, any changes clearly seem to be minor.
Next we go to an audio commentary from director James McTeigue and screenwriter Ryan Engle. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, editing and deleted scenes, photography, music and connected domains.
Don’t expect a lot of depth here, as we get only sporadic insights about the production. Instead, McTeigue and Engle mainly just narrate the movie. The occasional useful nugget arises, but I can’t claim I learned much from the track.
In addition to an Alternate Opening (2:08), we get four Deleted/Extended Scenes. These run a total of 14 minutes, 28 seconds and include “Extended Drone Sequence” (2:06), “’Where’s the Safe, Sweetheart?’” (8:29), “Running for Your Life” (0:42) and “Eddie and Justin Fight” (3:11).
The “Alternate Opening” doesn’t replace the movie’s actual first scene, as it’s supposed to still follow the death of Shaun’s father. It doesn’t seem very interesting so the existing intro to Shaun and the kids works better.
As for the other scenes, obviously “Safe” becomes the most significant one – based on length, at least. In execution, it simply adds to the existing segment and it doesn’t show much that seems especially interesting.
The remaining bits feel pretty forgettable as well. Don’t expect much that would seem compelling from this batch of cut scenes.
We can watch all these clips with or without commentary from McTeigue and Engle. They give us details about the scenes and let us know why they got the boot. McTeigue and Engle deliver a useful set of observations.
Four featurettes follow, and One Bad Mother runs four minutes, 19 seconds and offers comments from McTeigue, Engle, producers Craig Perry and Will Packer, and actors Gabrielle Union, Mark Furze, and Levi Meaden.
“Mother” focuses on Union’s character and performance. It tends to feel fluffy and it lacks much substance.
With A Filmmaker’s Eye, we get a five-minute, six-second piece with notes from McTeigue, Packer, Engle, Union, Perry, director of photography Toby Oliver, and actors Richard Cabral and Billy Burke.
“Eye” looks at production challenges/specifics and McTeigue’s take on the material. Despite a smidgen of happy talk, “Eye” manages to bring us a decent set of observations.
A Lesson in Kicking Ass goes for four minutes, 19 seconds and features Union, Packer, Perry, McTeigue, Furze, Oliver, and producer James Lopez. “Lesson” gives us thoughts about the movie’s stunts and action. It mixes happy talk with a few worthwhile elements to become a passable piece.
Finally, we find A Hero Evolved, a two-minute, 54-second reel with Union, McTeigue, Perry, Lopez, and actor Ajiona Alexus. The reel discusses the use of a black female protagonist. It seems self-congratulatory.
The disc opens with ads for Hotel Artemis, Scorpion King: Book of Souls, Unsane, Tales from the Hood 2 and I Feel Pretty. No trailer for Breaking In appears here.
A second disc delivers a DVD copy of Breaking In. It features all the same extras as the Blu-ray, including both cuts of the film.
At a brief 88 minutes, Breaking In goes by quickly enough so that it doesn’t wear out its welcome. However, the movie lacks much to make it stand out among other thrillers, so it fails to find a dramatic groove. The Blu-ray brings very good picture and audio along with decent supplements. Breaking In winds up as a brisk but forgettable tale.