Movie Review - Breakdown (1997)

Breakdown (1997)

Starring Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, and Jack Noseworthy

Directed by Jonathan Mostow

This is one of those movies that's been on my list of things to watch for years upon years, but I had never gotten around to it until now (thanks to instant streaming on Netflix).  It's an effective little thriller that, while not bringing anything new to the table, certainly is successful at creating tension.

Kurt Russell plays Jeff Taylor who, along with his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan), are traveling out to California in their new SUV.  Having just secured new jobs, they're leaving their old life in Massachusetts behind and heading out to the new unknown future (albeit with a little trepidation).  When their SUV breaks down on the side of the road in the middle of the Arizona desert, Amy hitches a ride with a friendly trucker (J.T. Walsh) who says he'll drop Amy off at a diner five miles down the road and let her call for a tow truck. 

Hours pass with no sign of a tow or Amy, and Jeff manages to get the SUV up and running again.  When he arrives at the diner, he's met with blank stares when he inquires about his wife.  Starting to get a bit scared, Jeff takes to the road to head to the nearest town.  Along the way, he spots the truck and driver who picked up Amy.  The only problem is that the trucker seems oblivious to the whole thing, saying to Jeff that he has no recollection of ever meeting him or his wife.  Jeff's frantic search for his wife ensues and leads him into some surprising circumstances.

All in all, the film does what it intends to do -- provide genuine excitement.  In its brisk 95-minute running time, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow is able to keep the tension ever-rising, while keeping the somewhat silly story feeling believable. The film's last third is ludicrous, but Mostow does such a great job directing that the last twenty minutes had me on the edge-of-my-seat, including a fantastic final set piece.  Mostow is quite adept at filming action sequences, while at the same time creating some beautiful shots of with the lovely Arizona deserts in the background.

The only real issue with the film is the star.  Kurt Russell is kind of just an emotional vacuum on the screen.  I never really got any sense of any emotion from him at all in this thing.  Towards the end, he ratchets up the "GIVE ME BACK MY WIFE!" anger, but for the most part, he's much too bland.  Considering that he's onscreen in every single scene, it's a bit of a let-down.  Russell certainly isn't bad enough not to watch this, but if he could have brought more to the table, this flick would have been really stellar.

The RyMickey Rating: B