A woman fights to protect her family during a home invasion.

When her father is killed, Shaun Russell (Gabrielle Union) and her two kids, Jasmine and Glover, head back to his stronghold of a home to settle in. While they are there, exploring the safe home and all its security features, cameras, safe room, etc., unknown men invade the home, separating the kids inside from Shaun outside, by the garage. What do the men want? How can she get her kids back? She will have to spend the rest of this terror-filled night…BREAKING IN.

*MUSIC STING* Dum dum duuuuuuh.

BREAKING IN is not a bad movie. There are innocent victims in peril from evil greedy men, a resourceful and intelligent mother who will stop at nothing to save her kids, and a suave ringleader who ups the stakes along the way.

The problem with the movie is that there are zero surprises. You have a pretty good idea from the very beginning who is going to die. You also know who will be victorious.  I guess the only suspense one can find might come from wondering which method of doom which character shall experience.

Director James McTeigue (V For Vendetta, Sense8) is a deft director, wringing tense moments out of the most cliched of circumstances, and struggling valiantly against a script that is really…well…kind of trite and easy to predict. The villains: there’s a sensitive one, a psychotic one , and the leader. The family: there’s mom, older sister who loves her phone, and younger brother who has an instant grasp of technology.

It’s definitely a PG-13 kind of thriller and, while that label is not automatically a kiss of death, it does make this a watered-down affair.  The stakes are never high, the threats are mere whispers of what they could have been, and that’s a shame, because there are the bare bones of what could have been a thoughtful, fun roller coaster of a flick.

Gabrielle Union is terrific as Shaun, showing real love for her children and a mama bear’s propensity for raising hell when her cubs are threatened.  There’s no real hint of her strengths when we first see her, so it’s nice to watch the arc her character travels.  Unfortunately, nobody else in the cast is given even one-fifth of the interesting business that she is asked to do.

Be that as it may, BREAKING IN is still worth a look-see. I had a fun time watching it, I just didn’t have a fantastic time.

BREAKING IN arrives today on Blu-ray and DVD.