Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Just so...so bad

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

At first, I thought I'd want to see this film as another take on the topic covered in recent films (Antoine Fuqua's "Olympus has Fallen" and Roland Emmerich's "White House Down". As I watched the film at home, my wife looked up from the book she was reading and made two comments during the course of the film:***SPOILER FOLLOWS*** (from here throughout) (Her comment, early on in the movie) "I hope this whole movie doesn't take place in the trunk of a car." Her intuition was right on the money...This is not a film for the claustrophobic. As one bad thing after another happened to the main character, she said (later on in the movie),"This has to be the most depressing movie you have ever seen. I knew he wasn't getting out."My wife was right in finding the film to be predictable in that respect. Now, I know I should have followed the sage advice of the Sidney Deane character (played by Wesley Snipes) in "White Man Can't Jump" when he tells Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson):"Billy, I have four words for you: 'Listen to the Woman'".Actually, there is a curious parallel between the two movies in that a loser struggles against his fate, almost surmounts his tragic flaw, and winds up in the end...losing. (Both losers are gamblers! Gamblers Anonymous take note--your services are needed.) At least in "White Man Can't Jump" the loser is not handing over the White House and the US President to a gang of terrorists/mercenaries which will lead to the inevitable fall of the US government. But why would the Secret Service entrust the most important secret of the government to a gambler loser? When you're the Secret Service, surely you have the means to discover that your most important agent has a gambling addiction, not to mention that his wife has been paid by mercenary terrorists... Come on!I was finally reminded of Cecil B. DeMille's classic 1949 film, "Samson and Delilah." Crucial point: The woman he loved betrays him, causing his inevitable downfall. The difference is that Samson commits a final heroic act. He regains his strength and, with no hope of escape, buries his enemies with him under a pile of rubble. (The ending of Samson and Delilah is not for the claustrophobic either). In "Brake" the main character is puny and weak--a loser--the villains are strong, powerful, and hold all the aces. So, in "Brake", evil triumphs over good (the premise of most horror stories), but it's the winning over insurmountable odds that provides the "feel good" to action movies. It's like, IF at the end of "Die Hard" the hero John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) gets thrown off the building by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and falls to his death in a 70 foot drop--instead of the other way around. At least there won't be a "Brake 2." (Thank God!)

Steven Dorff plays secret service agent Jeremy Reins who suddenly awakes, confused in a back of a car, entombed in some sort of perspex case. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. There is a red light shining on him and a digital clock counting down. When it reaches zero, it resets with another countdown but something happens in between.Dorff who looks like a thinner Kiefer Sutherland certainly reminds you of the television series 24. Dorff who first fears he has been kidnapped because of gambling debts realised that there are other people kidnapped as well and he can communicate with them via CB radio, he fears for the safety of his ex wife and realises that the people holding want information on the hiding place of the President in the event of an emergency evacuation. He faces various tests including torture as the clock keeps counting down.What is happening, who wants the information, who can he trust or is this all some sort of psychological test, this is certainly an intriguing low budget B movie. The focus is mainly on Dorff, trapped in the trunk of a car, bathed in red light and he certainly holds your attention whilst many of the other actors are voices on the phone, radio or people in the car. It is an unusual,tense film that does not outstay its welcome and destined to be a cult film.

A Secret Service Agent (Stephen Dorff) is held captive in the trunk of a car and endures mental and physical torture as terrorists attempt to extract information for their plot against the President of the United States.He is locked in a box that way too complicated. It's basically a 1-man play for quite a while as he talks to his capturer. I get a sense that this was some amateur writing assignment that somebody turn into a movie really cheap. The basic concept has been done before. This time it runs out of steam too soon. By the time, we are introduced to other people and hopefully drive the movie home. It's already too late. Nice try.

This distinguishable idea was used before and that is why the wow! effect is smaller; the backgrounds are different, but there are lots of similar features: mobile phone calls, hope vs. despair via events outside, new sudden twists, the fate of the leading character etc. However, Stephen Dorff is stronger and more versatile actor than Ryan Reynolds.I have heard that many did not like the ending scenes - but I did not mind; in my opinion, it would have been more shallow if the pre-ending scenes had taken the form of the final solution. However, it remained unclear to me who was involved with whom etc.A catchy thriller if you like movies with solo performances in a limited space.