Breakdown (1997)

Directed by: Jonathan Mostow | 95 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Kurt Russell, JT Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, MC Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Linn, Ritch Brinkley, Moira Harris, Kim Robillard, Thomas Kopache, Jack McGee, Vincent Berry, Helen Duffy

‘Breakdown’ is an American variant of the Dutch ‘Spoorloos’. Just like this film by George Sluizer, ‘Breakdown’ is blood-curdling, unlike ‘Trackless’, ‘Breakdown’ is bursting with spectacular action scenes: collisions between gigantic trucks, characters dangling from bridges, fierce chases, beatings where blood spatters jump around.

Why this action? Amy Taylor (Kathleen Quinlan), the wife of Jeff (Kurt Russell), disappears into thin air after their car breaks down and she rides with Warren “Red” Barr (JT Walsh) to get help. Jeff waits quietly for a long time: he looks around and messes around with his car. Finally, he realizes that something is completely wrong and he pulls out all the stops to get his wife back.

His fight is to become despondent. It’s excruciatingly hot out there in the desert near San Diego, he has zero leads, he’s in the middle of nowhere, and there’s a lack of helpful people: the indolent beer-drinking men he meets, mostly glaze over and shut up. Add to this the slow country music in the background and voilà it becomes clear: if Jeff wants to see Amy alive again, he will have to move heaven and earth. On his own.

Jeff draws viewers into his struggle: from the sidelines there is a spontaneous tendency to interfere with him. “Watch him.” “Don’t do that.” You would want to shout such sentences at him. It is easy to identify with Jeff: Russell has portrayed him as a normal man, who gets a knife to his throat and explodes purely for that reason. His transformation from peace-loving citizen to dogged pit bull is credible. And evokes sympathy.

‘Breakdown’ is thrilling from start to finish. Because it is an American film, you can get a sense of how it will end. Still, how Jeff will eventually manage to find Amy remains a mystery for a long time.

‘Breakdown’ is not just a thrilling movie. It is also well acted. By Russell, but also by Walsh, who died in 1998 (‘Nixon’, ‘Sling Blade’, ‘Pleasantville’), who plays the villain Warren: he hides his villainous character behind a mask of a gentle father and helpful citizen. And in doing so, he deceives many. Less impressive is Quinlan (‘Apollo 13’, ‘A Civil Action’). Especially in the second part of the film, she does little more than moan and groan to express her pain and fear. That gets really annoying at some point. Well, maybe director Jonathan Mastow (‘Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers’, ‘Terminator 3’), who also wrote the script, should have given her slightly more captivating lyrics. For the rest: hats off. Because ‘Breakdown’ is really worth it.