Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Abbigail Bush
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
keelhaul-80856
This was a decent movie, and Kurt Russell and the main trucker guy help it a great deal with good acting. It has enough action and entertainment to keep the tension going throughout. However, it is quite silly in some ways, such as...1) Why would a man let his wife ride away with a trucker in the middle of a desert, without coming along? Because he is worried about his vehicle? In the middle of the desert? There were barely even any people in the area, and my wife's safety is much more important.2) All people in small towns or rural areas are evil rednecks that attack or inconvenience outsiders! Watch out! Any time you leave the safety of Massachusetts, you will be spotted by guys from Deliverance or farmers who want to steal your money and kill you. The truckers and rednecks in the film are hilarious, though some of it feels realistic at times. I feel safer in areas like this than big cities full of crime, though. Why would everyone in a small town treat you like crap? Because you are wearing nice clothes? Most folks are glad for tourism dollars or at least a few of them would try to help you in a bad time.3) What is the obsession with Kurt having a "rich" car? LOL. This was funny. The rednecks keep mentioning how they knew he had money because he has a Jeep Cherokee with a CD changer and some (now-basic) features. You can tell this was made in the 90s, if a Jeep with a nice radio is considered wealthy! This point is made several times, and just makes me laugh. Yes, even in the 90s, if you had a Jeep and some khaki pants, you probably are the CEO of a major corporation.4) Kill the stupid, evil people when you have the chance! Stop letting a guy threaten you, kidnap you and your wife, assault you both, and attempt to murder you, and then keep holding them at gun point or tying them up to escape later. This is just so ridiculously stupid in most suspense movies.5) This is the funniest part to me. The kidnappers think he has $90,000 in an account, and they are willing to kill for it. Here's the deal, though-- at least 4 or more guys are involved in the plot. So, a man with a profitable trucking business, a nice 2-story house, a huge farm, lots of equipment and barns, etc. is willing to risk his family and kidnapping/murder charges for like a year's salary, when you divide the money among the goons?????? What sense does this make? The other losers might be believable, as they look like simple-minded white trash that live in a single wide and smoke meth, but the main antagonist just has too much too lose for this. They should have written a plot where he desperately needed the money up front for something, or had some young punks pull off the crime. Red just didn't make much sense risking his neck for 30 grand.
shakercoola
A good ballast of tight suspense provides stability for the action sequences that ensue. Breakdown is a cut above many action thrillers thanks to U-571 director Jonathan Mostow at the helm. Kurt Russell does anguish very well and the late J.T. Walsh plays "quietly sinister sleazeball" very well indeed. The finale does not disappoint.
scottishwhiskey
Every time Kurt Russell is in something you can always rely on a solid film. And once again in Breakdown you will not be disappointed. A solid cast with great directing makes this a must see. A great thriller that keeps you second guessing until the end which I love. Russell always puts in the full 100 percent and it shows here again. Why can't actors do what he does like this anymore. Good performances all around make this a tight entertaining watch that you will feel you have not wasted your almost 2 hours. A fast paced thriller that hits the mark at every turn. See this one and you will see how the 90s had great suspenseful films lacking today.
Christopher Culver
In BREAKDOWN, Kurt Russell and Amy Quinlan play a wealthy New England couple who find horror in flyover country. While driving across the US, their car breaks down. The various local people they meet who initially seem helpful are in fact criminals working together. The wife is kidnapped, the husband is told to pay half a million to get her back alive, and Kurt Russell decides he'd rather fight.I found this a rather lame movie. Its believability goes way down when, for example, Kurt Russell rides on the bottom of a moving truck trailer and easily finds his way up to the cab. There are obvious continuity and other errors here: a villain gets a brutal rifle blast to his shoulder, but a few minutes later he's driving a car with no visible problems; a small child is shown playing video games (so it's early evening), but a few minutes later in the same scene dawn breaks.About the only entertainment here is the acting of J.T. Walsh and M.C. Gainey, who are caricatures but fun ones. Kurt Russell, on the other hand, acts like he's not particularly happy to have taken this role, and is just going through the motions until he gets his paycheck.I must say that the purported message, if any, of this film is intriguing. BREAKDOWN seems to be suggesting that decent people from the coasts shouldn't venture into the American heartland, since it's the den of rednecks who lie in wait for them.
