The first "Don't Breathe" gave us plenty of reasons to cheer for Norman — he's a veteran who lost his sight in the Gulf War, his daughter was killed in a tragic car accident, he was wronged by the justice system that let her killer walk, and he's an old guy in a dilapidated house who just wants to be left alone. By the end of the film, it had also given us plenty of reasons to feel bad about cheering for him — he seemed to take a sadistic glee in hunting and murdering the home invaders, he had abducted his child's killer and tied her up in his basement, and despite his protestations to the contrary, he was a rapist.
"Don't Breathe 2" seems to go the opposite way. At the beginning of the film, he's not only carrying all the baggage from the first movie that would have the audience decidedly not on his side, but Norman has now abducted a little girl, raised her on lies, and is treating her like a caged bird. But by the end of the film, he has somehow made inroads towards redeeming herself by serving as her protector and repeatedly sacrificing himself to keep her evil parents at bay.
How you feel about Norman at the end of "Don't Breathe 2" will play a big part in whether you like or dislike its ending. Another factor that will play a big part is how you interpret his final words.
When it seems as though the threat has subsided and Raylan is dead, Norman and Phoenix share a moment. He is banged up and bloody, no doubt, but the old man seems likely to live. That's when he begs her to leave him, saying: "I've killed! I've raped!" It's that second part, oddly enough, that is open to interpretation.
A masterful filmmaker is good at manipulating the audience like a marionette while hiding the strings they use to elicit sympathy, happiness, anger and other emotions. "Don't Breathe 2" does not show many signs of a master filmmaker at work, and a skeptical interpretation of the "I've raped!" line could be that director Rodo Sayagues (failing miserably to walk in the same shoes as first installment filmmaker Fede Alvarez) needed Norman to say that so the audience would turn against The Blind Man, pleasing them when he is apparently mortally stabbed seconds later.
A less-skeptical interpretation could be that Norman screams "I've raped!" to show character growth in his final moments. In the original "Don't Breathe," he went out of his way to tell Rocky that he is not a rapist, but simply someone who offered his captive a deal that she willingly accepted: If she allowed The Blind Man to impregnate her and then carried the baby to term, she would be set free. It's horrific, obviously — but in his twisted mind, it allowed him to justify his actions.
So, which do you believe? Is "I raped!" an exploitative line meant to make us once-and-for-all want The Blind Man dead? Or a last-minute confession that shows he is ready to accept punishment and confess to all his sins?
