Being targeted twice for a home robbery seems extremely unlikely. Don't Breathe 2 leads you to believe that is exactly what is happening only to throw in a twist in which is an attempt to make you sympathise with a character we know plenty about from the previous events.
Written by Elliot Lines
8 years on from previous events, Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) has raised a young girl he adopted after her family were in a fire. With this being a large part of the story of the first film we are instantly aware of the stakes for this character, and the lengths he's willing to go for this to be a thing in his life. When intruders come to take that away from him, it takes him way out of his comfort zone to even attempt to keep that part of his life.
What Don't Breathe did well was to create suspense due to Normans inability to see. Don't Breathe 2 struggles with this aspect, even where there are plenty of impressively aggressive scenes the intense nature that this film should bring doesn't feel as impactful.
This isn't a character you want to root for, but the film manages to find a reason for you to. Normans past was revealed in the first film, and it is pretty horrific but the introduction of a few characters here make sure you want him to succeed. These characters cause him to remove himself from his comfort zone, creating a different dynamic from Don't Breathe.
Ultimately failing to build on the suspense of the first film, Don't Breathe 2 attempts to be it's own film rather that follow the same pattern of its predecessor. This made for a brutal and twisty watch, but unfortunately lacked the suspense you'd expect.