Just perfect...

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This movie which was released in the 90s is simply - breathtaking!!! it's a really good movie to watch especially if you're into thrillers. Everything was good - from start to finish! There aren't too many films as suspenseful as Breakdown. Unfortunately, Breakdown is one of these rare movies that seems to have gone unnoticed despite involving Kurt Russell. We all know there were many fine movies during the 90s, but Breakdown was not part of those big movies we all seem to remember from the top of our heads. Breakdown is an excellent road movie, and there aren't too many road movies that can compete with Breakdown. I don't know why this movie does not get the recognition it deserves as many of the other great movies back then, so that's a mystery in itself. I've heard and seen many greats movies, but this was not one of them. In conclusion, the movie - Breakdown - is a very suspenseful one. Underrated.

Boston couple Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlain) are on their way moving to San Diego, they are in the middle of nowhere in Utah until their car breaks down and need help. A friendly looking truck driver named Red Barr (JT Walsh) stops to help and Amy wants to go to a diner to get a tow-truck for help, so she goes with the truck driver to go get help. Then for a long time, Jeff begins to worry as he goes to the diner to find his wife is not there, then finds the same truck driver yet Red has claimed he has never saw him or his wife when he is lying when something is fishy, his wife has been kidnapped by him and a few other fellows as now it's up to Jeff to find his wife and track down the demented trucker and his hooligans.An exciting, well paced and well written action mystery thriller from director Jonathan Mostow who co-wrote the film as it's a thrilling, edge of your seat suspenseful movie. The film co-stars M.C. Gainy from the same year's Con Air as Earl, Jack Noseworthy as Billy and Rex Linn as Sheriff Boyd. The performances in this movie are fantastic and so is the premise of "It can happen to you" in it's tagline. The movie delivers a good script especially intense sequences like Jeff in the car with Earl after pulling out money when it's actually one dollar bills with 20s in front of them disguised as a thousand dollars then him stabbing Earl in the shoulder blade with a letter opener then tying him up with fix-it tape even to his neck to drive his vehicle to interrogate him to ask where his wife is. The climax is quite astonishing as you come to hate Red in this movie as JT Walsh makes an excellent scumbag you wish would die in this movie and you get a very crowdpleasing death of him in this movie which i can't reveal for you have to see the movie for yourself.Highly recommended.

Breakdown is an adrenaline-pumping thriller.In his directorial debut, Jonathan Mostow has created a gripping, action-filled film that also comes across as a nifty morality play about the invidious dual evils of envy and showing off. Kurt Russell gives an extremely naturalistic performance here. His effortless characterization of a mild mannered husband pushed to the brink is flawless. He never once looks like he's "acting", which is a sure sign of a Legend. This is Kurt in his Everyman mode. Sometimes he plays lovable buffoons like in Big Trouble in Little China, sometimes he plays total bad-asses like in Escape from New York; but he's also really good at playing your Average Joe who can still kick a little ass when he has to.Walsh is equally excellent as the slimy trucker. He was truly a talented guy who passed away far before his time. There's no telling how many more juicy roles like this he could've done. And Quinlan does a fine job in the thankless Missing Wife role too.Breakdown is the kind of movie I love. This is definitely one of Kurt Russell's best of the 90's.

Now here's a film that won't win any awards. It won't lend itself to overly complicated interpretation or be remembered for anything iconic. It's wholly second-rate as far as plot and character dynamics and it resoundingly breaks the unwritten rule of referencing better films. Yet despite all this, Breakdown is a thing of unappreciated greatness. It's a hidden gem of tone, tension and tomfoolery finding the nerve, gut-instinct and popcorny-ness that looks like it was conjured from the mind of Lee in the play "True West."The plot reads like something out of a John Lemay novel. Jeff (Russell) and Amy (Quinlan) are driving through the desert in their Jeep cross-country. They breakdown on the side of the road where big rig trucker Red (Walsh) offers assistance. Amy leaves with Red to call for a tow while Jeff stays with the Jeep. Hours go by, Jeff checks the car and finds the battery has been tampered with and begins to suspect something is seriously wrong. From there the movie becomes a thriller stitched together by a ransom Jeff can't afford and handled by a group of menacing back-road truckers.Breakdown was produced by the legendary Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis who in addition to spearheading the Italian film renaissance also had a penchant for the fanciful, the scintillating and the obscure. Projects like Flash Gordon (1980), King Kong (1976) and Dune (1984) prove that even at his worst De Laurentiis was a risk-taker; one who appreciated bold ideas.For a relatively small movie made at the dusk of De Laurentiis's career, Breakdown is certainly a bold movie. It moves briskly through its plot, leaving little time for the audience to internalize the ridiculousness of the story while gleefully enjoying some fun action visuals. When the movie does slowdown enough to take a breather, it's surgical in its ability to create truly suspenseful cinematic moments. These moments approach the grandeur of Chinatown's (1974) "The future" scene made less memorable only because there are no iconic lines and, as I said, the plot is patently ridiculous.Yet it was the memory of our lead, getting the jump on Red's lacky Earl (Gainley) and the scene with Red's family is confronted with a pistol wielding Kurt Russell that brought me back to revisit this film years later. While similar "criminal trucker" films of the era like Black Dog (1998) and Joy Ride (2001) were solid in their own right, Breakdown is the only one that really sticks. When you see Russell straight-up dominating experienced truckers on the road via heavily armed car chase, I'm sure you'll agree.