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Movies / Upcoming / Breakdown
Breakdown

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Breakdown (1997)

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Reviews Counted:46

Fresh:36

Rotten:10

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: A brainy and suspenseful -- if somewhat uneven -- thriller.

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: After their new Jeep conks out on a desolate stretch of Arizona highway, a well-heeled Massachusetts couple accepts the help of a polite and seemingly honest trucker (J.T. Walsh), who drives the... After their new Jeep conks out on a desolate stretch of Arizona highway, a well-heeled Massachusetts couple accepts the help of a polite and seemingly honest trucker (J.T. Walsh), who drives the wife (Kathleen Quinlan) to a diner while the husband (Kurt Russell) stays behind to "protect" the vehicle. After saying goodbye, the husband gets two surprises--the Jeep starts, and his wife never actually arrived at the diner. What's more, the trucker doesn't recollect having picked her up at all. This taut suspense film, directed by Jonathan Mostow, is light on special-effects bombasticism and heavy on the old-fashioned Hitchcockian chills. [More]

Starring: Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey

Starring: Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Linn, Ritch Brinkley, Susan Brinkley, Moira Harris, Kim Robillard, Thomas Kopache, Jack McGee

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Screenwriter: Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery
Composer: Basil Poledouris

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Breakdown

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/01/00
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/01/00
Boston Phoenix
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/08/03
Washington Post
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/03/06
Time Out
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N/R

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Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews
N/R

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Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
05/08/03
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
Los Angeles Times
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
N/R

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

When you really think about Breakdown -- and believe me, that would probably require spending more time thinking about the movie than the filmmakers did -- it doesn't make much sense.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

The film has a few interesting twists, but the movie's main flaws are its over-reliance on wild coincidences to advance the plot and a pace that is overwhelmingly slow until the very end.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

A long, drawn-out bore where the fate of each character is all-but-inscribed on his or her forehead.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Some movies have such good set-ups, that they are virtually assured to be something of a let-down when it comes time for the follow-through. Jonathan Mostow's Breakdown is such a movie.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
02/27/01
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

Breakdown has plenty of deft action sequences, and what they add up to is nifty garbage disposal, with all of us -- characters, filmmakers, viewers -- ultimately spiraling down the same drain.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Are we really supposed to empathize with the empathy-proof Kurt Russell? I was actually hoping that his character's wife had run away with the trucker ...

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
01/07/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Russell Smith
Russell Smith
Austin Chronicle

[Kurt Russell's] lack of energy afflicts the film as much as its director's lack of ideas.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/07/03
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Watching one action cliche after another, the audience's natural reaction to the film's conclusion has to be, 'Yeah, right!'

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

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Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/03
Susan Tavernetti
Susan Tavernetti
Palo Alto Weekly

A fairly taut thriller that gets into gear by stealing parts from Duel, The Vanishing and Deliverance.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
E! Online
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Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/07/03
Globe and Mail
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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Breakdown

May 21, 2007: Four Directors Up for the Next "Bond" Flick?
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June 15, 2005: "T3" Director Hired to Remake "Swiss Family Robinson"
Jonathan Mostow, director of "Breakdown," "U-571," and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," will step behind the camera for Disney's new remake of... More...

March 09, 2005: Paramount Looks Forward to Getting "Snow Blind"
More...

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