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Breakdown (1997)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:36
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A brainy and suspenseful -- if somewhat uneven -- thriller.
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
Reviews for Breakdown
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 ...
[Mostow is] able to sustain a nightmarish reality that is at once gripping and chilling.
A terrifying movie that presses the right buttons early on and then capitalizes on your vulnerability.
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.
A spare, solid, sharply paced tale of terror that does what a thriller is supposed to do -- scare the bejesus out of you.
Overall, you should enjoy Breakdown, but you'll leave with the feeling that it could have been done a little bit better.
It's a cool flick, with a good story, and it's worth paying full price. And I never say that about Kurt Russell movies.
A fairly taut thriller that gets into gear by stealing parts from Duel, The Vanishing and Deliverance.
If you liked Hand That Rocks the Cradle, or Eye for An Eye, you are gonna like Breakdown.
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.
A first-rate nail-biter that packs more genuine white-knuckle moments into 100 minutes than a dozen overpriced volcano movies could ever dream of having.
Latest News for Breakdown
May 21, 2007:
Four Directors Up for the Next "Bond" Flick?
Curious to know who'll be directing the next James Bond flick? Join the club. One source has a short list of potential helmers, all of whom would be pretty ... distinctive. More...
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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