Breakdown

Rating:
Summary: A superb nail-biter!
Review: Talk about a "Breakdown" for Kurt Russell's character. His life is a total hell when his wife, who gets help from a truck driver when their car "breaks" down, winds up missing. Russell is so convincing as the husband that the audience relates to his anger, frustration, and fierce dermination to get his wife back from the blackmailing kidnapping ring who abducted her.

The truck driver played by J.T. Walsh, is also excellent as the villian. Director Jonathan Mostow does an solid job with the suspense-filled action sequences. Every scene is realistic and brutal to the viewer. I especially liked the first half of the movie, when the film is sort of like of mystery because Russell cannot find his wife. The second half bogs down, but is still exciting and effective.

But the holy grail goes to Russell, who gives a ultra-realistic performance to a ultra-nailbiting thriller. Highly recommended film along with NICK OF TIME with Johnny Depp.

Rating:
Summary: DOES NOT Breakdown in Storytelling
Review: In this good old-fashioned, entertaining suspense thriller, one would ask if this has been done before. There's something familiar yet original in BREAKDOWN about a vacationing couple who get mixed up with a multi-state hijacking theft ring with the wife ending up being kidnapped. Then, the bewildered husband is left to his wits(end) to find his wife and uncover the mystery of her kidnapping with no one to help or believe in his story. The bottom line is that the script and premise sets up some real genuine tension for the audience. They become emotionally involved and feel the frustration with the main character (Jeff Taylor) played beautifully by Kurt Russell, and a real hatred for the kidnapper/ring leader/trucker (Red Barr) also played to perfection by the late J.T. Walsh in an authentic bad guy performance. There are parts taken from films such as TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and countless other "desert highway" and "redneck as baddies" thrillers, but the movie works because of some good casting and a plot with plausibility. Overall, an enteraining thrill ride that will have you yelling at the screen. Good to see veteran actress Kathleen Quinlan in a small but otherwise meaty role as the kidnapped wife.

Rating:
Summary: ROAD RAGE
Review: THIS IS ONE HECK OF A MOVIE. Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh and director Jonathan Mostow combine to bring about a suspense-filled, action-packed thriller. Russell commands the movie, showing all the frustration, rage, and terror he feels in his pursuit of the rednecks who have absconded his wife. Walsh is an unparallelled villain, able to pull off his dastardly deeds and then go home to his wife and son. The scene in which both he and his wife tell their little boy to kill Russell is downright horrifying. Kathleen Quinlan, a good actress, doesn't have much screen time, but does well with what little she has. Mostow crafts some supremely bone-chilling chase scenes and the ending is breathtaking. I too wanted to cheer when the credits rolled.
A brilliant, underappreciated film.

Rating:
Summary: where's my wife
Review: theres no doubt that Russell is a great actor. I mean this one fits him well. just think if him and Goldie Hawn,his wife, did this and Goldie Hawn was kidnapped. He'd flip out and frickin do something and he really shows the emotions and paranioa of his role and the suspense never lets go. hang on!!

Rating:
Summary: New England Heroics
Review: In this outstanding film, Russell plays the role of a Massachusetts tourist visiting Arizona with his wife. After having a breakdown (hence the name of the film) our well-educated hero from Boston comes up against a group of backwater criminals who attempt to extort a paltry sum of 90k. At this point, the health club memberships and tofu begin paying off as Russell takes on a group of overweight, beer-bellied Arizona desert cats in hot rods and pickups. What this films shows more than anything else is: DONT MESS WITH FOLKS FROM MASSACHUSETTS! Great fun.

PS: This film will explain why Arizona has so many flea markets.

Rating:
Summary: great emotional action
Review: This is one of the greatest action movies of all time. just leave it at that.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disturbing
Review: Another movie I like that the general public never seem to got around to. I really like these minimalist, middle of nowhere movies. A real highpoint is when the character Jeff Taylor stands in front of the "Missing Persons" board, it really hits home; my God how many people ARE disposed of in the manner suggested by Breakdown? Scary. Could happen is right. I mean what WOULD you do? Middle of nowhere, totally out of your element, battling God knows how many unseen predators in the hopes of getting back your wife? One of the few movies where you can't just say... "Well, why doesn't he just do this or just do that?" This character really is helpless. This movie does a lot things right, JT Walsh is harsh and plays the role perfectly, perhaps a bit too close, makes you wonder. The sound on the dvd is great, the acting by one and all is played great. I suppose the only real "breakdown" would be the over the top ending that could have been pulled from any 70's television show, a bit dissappointing but at the same time somehow fitting.

I could have taken a star away for lack of extras, but I know that would just bring the average down on a movie that is pretty underrated as it is, because the movie itself is one I watch over and over and the extras will be out... someday, when I'm conned into buying the next edition, which I will because Kurt is just that good:)

Rating:
Summary: Great action movie
Review: Their brand new jeep breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The cell phone is out of network to call for help.
As fate would have it a truck appears out of the blue and the truck driver offers help to the unfortunate couple.Since he is not sure what the problem with the car may be he suggests to take them to the nearest motor inn where they could make a phone call for help. They reject this offer but as the truck driver makes his way to his truck the woman goes with him while the man looks after the fancy jeep. Few minutes pass since his wife has gone with the truck driver and he decides to check the jeep once more.And it is this time he realises what was wrong with the car.
He goes to that nearest motor in but nobody saw his wife or any
truck driver...

It is one of the best action movies you'll get to see.

Rating:
Summary: Breakdown Review
Review: I have found "BreakDown" to be a brilliant five star, action packed movie. The performances by Kurt Russle, and J.T. Walsh is outstanding. I have watched this movie many times with my family and i know all the lines of it. I think this is a great movie with a great cast. I saw it when it came out in the theaters and was amazed at how good it was. I would give it FIVE STARS.
Drew and Robbie

Rating:
Summary: Exciting and believable
Review: A youngish couple (Kurt Russell & Kathleen Quinlan) are moving from Massachusetts to California, and somewhere in the southwestern desert, their new SUV breaks down. A friendly trucker comes along, offers help, and Quinlan accepts a ride to a nearby diner to call for help while Russell waits with the car. He gets the car started on his own, and heads to the diner. His wife is nowhere to be found, and when Russell catches up with the trucker, the trucker denies any knowledge of the knowing him or his wife.

That's the setup that takes place in the first twenty minutes or so. After that, BREAKDOWN is a thriller as Russell, a meek man driver by desparation, tries to figure out what has happened to his wife with very little evidence to go on. There are chase scenes galore.

The situation is actually quite preposterous, and gets more so as the movie goes along. The scheme that is uncovered is very elaborate, and seems like an awful lot of trouble for the culprits to go through. But Kurt Russell is so down to earth and believable, and the bad guys actually quite mundane, that the plot somehow doesn't seem totally ridiculous. The movie, obviously fairly low budget, is gritty and not too glossy. There aren't too many explosions, but there are PLENTY of cliffhangers, and because we can so readily identify with Russell's character, thanks to his convincing performance, we really feel for him and what he is going through. Situations that might seem like minor jeopardy in something more grandiose (like a DIE HARD movie, perhaps) are very tense and exciting in BREAKDOWN.

As I said, Russell is very good. It's interesting that this actor, who has been "famous" since a teen, is so convincing playing an "everyman" type. He's handsome, but not too much so, and when he runs around crazily, or is involved in a chase scene, he doesn't just suddenly develop amazing abilities. He looks scared, dirty, sweaty and ticked off. He is a man driven by shear fear for his wife, and anger. It's a convincing performance,and one of his best.

Quinlan, who understandably isn't in much of the movie, is also very good, and is a convincing match with Russell. JT Walsh, the main bad guy, is very good because he never really drops the veneer of being a regular guy,except in a couple of scenes. This was the wonderful character actor's last movie, and he left with a doozy.

This movie didn't do to well at the box office, but word of mouth has really helped it out on video. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is rated R, but the main reason for that is not graphic violence (there's not much blood, really) but just an occasional outburst of bad language. It's a thriller that would work well for those who don't like a lot of gore and gunplay.