Breakdown

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Bucking the lava tide of computer special effects gushing out of Hollywood this season, the makers of Breakdown use old-fashioned ingenuity -- plus a compelling star, a fast- paced mystery and a deadpan villain -- to come up with a sizzler.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Breakdown feels at first so casual, so comfortable with its own small expectations (a good but unglamorous cast, a sturdy but unspectacular plot), that the authentic feelings of suspense are a surprise.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Breakdown recalls so many good movies, in such unpredictable order, that by the end it simply stands on its own, a solid, logical, edge-of-the-seat sluiceway of escape and pursuit.

Los Angeles Times Jack Mathews

Mostow, with his first feature, has made such a convincing, fast-paced, edge-of-the-seat thriller that you'd swear you'd never seen anything quite like it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Stephen Thompson

Breakdown is just a skillfully constructed, smartly conceived, escapist thriller that does just about everything right.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

His Breakdown is a tough, vigorous exercise in pure action, shot with throwback expertise and, most refreshingly, without special effects.

Variety Todd McCarthy

In his bigscreen feature debut, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow displays real flair for visceral cinema while adroitly sidestepping many of the usual tripwires of this sort of film, particularly silly coincidences, stupid decisions on the part of characters with whom you're supposed to identify, and superheroics performed by ordinary people.

USA Today Mike Clark

Breakdown exploits so many traditional thriller situations that any suspense fan vet can easily devote a hand to counting off the predecessors it plunders. [02May1997 Pg 12.D]

Empire Bob McCabe

The great thing about Breakdown is simply that what you see is what you get. Want 90 minutes of edge of the seat tension? You got it. Want an unravelling nightmare that stays with you long after the movie? You got it.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Breakdown is a taut little thriller, the kind of well-crafted yarn that sets itself attainable goals and then meets them.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It starts slowly, but builds to a spectacular climax with hearty sound effects and deftly directed stunts.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Breakdown is a fine thriller, and its ending is unworthy of it.

Washington Post Richard Harrington

Jonathon Mostow, who wrote the script and then directed the movie, travels mostly familiar backroads and crosses bridges when he comes to them, actually managing a pretty good cliff-hanging denouement on the latter.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie's surrender to banality is all the more dispiriting because it gets off to such a good start.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

There are echoes of Stephen Spielberg's "Duel," as well as "Roadgames," "The Hitcher" and "The Hills Have Eyes," but director/cowriter Mostow isn't interested in hommages: He's just looking to crank up the suspense (not the in your face action, thank heavens), bit by miserable bit, and does a very nice job of it.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Each set piece is effectively executed, but the characters and their motivations become progressively dimmer and more confused.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

When you really think about Breakdown - and believe me, that would probably require spending more time thinking about the movie than the filmmakers did - it doesn't make much sense.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Breakdown further illustrates the axiom that every truly original movie must be remade again and again until it achieves a state of sublime, all-encompassing idiocy.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Breakdown is the latest in a seemingly endless traffic jam of thrillers that opens strong but finishes abominably.