Breakdown (1997) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Jonathan Mostow

Starring:  Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan, J.T. Walsh, M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Finn

Breakdown is a nightmarish thriller in which two normal people are swept up into a scheme bigger than anything they could imagine.   Jeff (Russell) and Amy (Quinlan) are driving cross country and stop in a seemingly innocuous New Mexico gas station in the middle of nowhere to fill up.   After leaving the gas station, Jeff's car breaks down a few miles up the road.  A helpful trucker named Red (Walsh) stops to assist and agrees to take Amy back to the station for help.  Jeff is able to restart the car, but when he travels back to the gas station to retrieve Amy, she isn't there.   Later, when Jeff calls the police and tracks down Red's truck, Red pretends he had never seen Jeff before and denies taking Amy anyplace.  A plot is underway, but we don't know how Jeff and Amy fit into it, though apparently it is one Red and his cohorts have executed numerous times before.

Many random things have to take place in order for Red's plans to succeed.   First of all, someone has to stop at the station in the middle of the desert.  The plotters may have to wait a long time for someone to drop in, but nonetheless Jeff and Amy show up and the plot is underway.   I won't divulge exactly what Red is up to, but again it leaves a lot up to the hopes that Jeff and Amy are fairly well off to make the scheme worthwhile.   Jeff is forced to comply with Red's terms or the kidnapped Amy will die.  Walsh projects the necessary menace, but unlike when he plays the heavy in other films, he doesn't feign any attempts at civility.  Kurt Russell is the everyman caught in an deadly situation, and true to Russell's style, he is convincing and sympathetic.  

Even if Breakdown doesn't necessarily stand up to scrutiny, we forgive it its trespasses because it is suspenseful and thrilling.  These are villains we want to see get their comeuppance.   I recall Roger Ebert's review of the film in which he disagreed with the fact that an incapacitated villain has a truck dropped on him for good measure.   If you take into account what the bad guy's actions throughout the film, it's hard to sympathize with him upon his demise.