I'm not trying to brag here, but I usually do a decent job of ignoring movies that I believe will make me just shrug my shoulders. It's not hard to see that "Breakdown" is going to be predictable. It's about a husband and wife. They are in the desert, their truck breaks down, and she goes missing. Standard, standard stuff. To this end, I was absolutely correct. What I did not realize is how well this movie ratchets up the tension and suspense.

Kurt Russell is one of my favorite actors, especially his John Carpenter related flicks and there's just something about Kathleen Quinlan. I'm a big "Twilight Zone" fan, and her starring role as Helen Foley in the "It's a Good Life" segment of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" was eye-catching. Also, the desert scenes are beautiful and the early moments show us the desolation with wide shots of the immense landscape.

The bad guys are so bad and there are many moments when Russell's character is up against the wall. He seemingly has no options. No way to escape. But he transforms into an action hero before our eyes. He pretty much goes Macgyver and by the end of this, the bad guys are gonna be toast.

This movie is almost 20 years old. Again, I have a little bit of movie snob in me and if I think something is standard mainstream movie fare, I will scoff at it a little. Well, you have probably seen movies like this many times before, but this is one of the best thrillers that I have seen. By the end, my heart was actually pounding and I was on the edge of my couch. Embarrassingly typical, but it's true. I immediately felt the need to tell my family to get on it and watch "Breakdown".

In Breakdown, Kurt Russell and Amy Quinlan play a wealthy New England couple who find horror in Iowa. While driving cross-country, their car breaks down. The various local people they meet who initially seem helpful are in fact criminals working together. The wife is kidnapped, the husband is told to pay half a million to get her back alive, and Kurt Russell decides he'd rather fight.

I found this a rather lame movie. Its believability goes way down when, for example, Kurt Russell rides on the bottom of a moving truck trailer and easily finds his way up to the cab. There are obvious continuity and other errors here: a villain gets a brutal rifle blast to his shoulder, but a few minutes later he's driving a car with no visible problems; a small child is shown playing video games (so it's early evening), but a few minutes later in the same scene dawn breaks.

About the only entertainment here is the acting of J.T. Walsh and M.C. Gainey, who are caricatures but fun ones. Kurt Russell, on the other hand, acts like he's not particularly happy to have taken this role, and is just going through the motions until he gets his paycheck.

I must say that the purported message, if any, of this film is intriguing. Breakdown seems to be suggesting that decent people from the coasts shouldn't venture into flyover country, since it is the den of rednecks who lie in wait for them. The forces behind this film clearly weren't interested in fairly portraying the Midwest.

Simple but really solid suspense-thriller with some good sequences especially the finale with great car stunts. Not much to the performances or characters, but Kurt Russell was, as usual, good in the lead and J.T. Walsh sinister as the primary villain. **3.75/5**

Super Thriller.

Breakdown is directed by Jonathan Mostow and Mostow co-writes the screenplay with Sam Montgomery. It stars Kurt Russell, J.T. Walsh, M.C. Gainey, Kathleen Quinlan, Rex Linn, Jack Noseworthy and Ritch Brinkley. Music is by Basil Poledouris and cinematography by Douglas Milsome.

When his SUV breaks down on a remote Southwestern road, Jeff Taylor (Russell) lets his wife, Amy (Quinlan), hitch a ride with a trucker to get help. When she doesn't return, Jeff fixes his SUV and tracks down the trucker -- who tells the police he's never seen Amy...

Sometimes all you need is a an unflashy thriller that soars because it keeps it simple. Mostow's thriller is a nail biter, preposterous at times for sure, but with Jeff (Russell superb) frantically trying to find what has happened to his wife - out in the desert landscape of America - we get a guy we can totally root for. As the cards get dealt we come to be aware of scumbag predators in his midst, the suspense gets ramped up and we are never quite sure how it's all going to pan out.

This has no ideas above its station, and as the heat gets turned up bit by bit, come the thrilling finale you may find it's time to breath easy again... 8/10