Breakdown

Spoilers all over this piece

You know, if you stop and think about the scheme that J.T. Walsh (Blue Chips), M.C. Gainey (Con Air), Jack Noseworthy (Event Horizon) and that grizzled ol’ prospector type guy cook up in Breakdown isn’t that smart.  Their idea of a good plan is to pick out some random guy, couple or family that looks wealthy, stick ‘em up and have them fork over their dough that they’ve got in the bank.  I see one major problem with this scenario and that is that you don’t know if these people actually have money.  There’s also the risk that you might fuck with the wrong person.  I mean the guy you’re robbing could whip out a gun of their own and start shootin’ or be someone too high profile to rob and a whole shit storm could come down on your head.  But that last possibility is a stretch so I’m gonna focus on the first point that I made.

This gang of truckers is taking a huge stab in the dark with their method.  It’s not efficient or particularly competent.  They go through a lot of trouble but don’t know what the stakes are.  Sure it’s possible that they could get lucky and nab a million bucks but the more likely scenario is that they’re gonna get a fairly unimpressive amount.  Now the movie does make the point that just because someone looks like they might have a lot of money doesn’t necessarily make it so.  Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan don’t really have the $90,000 they say they do but Russell wears a polo shirt, khakis and drives a new (1997) Jeep so the bad guys make the mistake of judging a book by its cover. 

And as thoughtless and reckless as the plan the truckers have is what may be even more bizarre is the way they carry it out.  They sabotage Russell’s car so that it’ll go on the fritz when he’s in the middle of nowhere, southwest USA.  Walsh then comes along to try and lure them into his truck so he can kidnap them but only Russell’s wife gets in.  Walsh tells him to meet him at a diner down the road but he’s not there so Russell goes to the police and even runs into Walsh who denies everything and then there’s this young guy that tells Russell he knows something about his wife and on and on and on.  It doesn’t make any sense to have all this run around.  It only gets the police involved and Russell even almost gets away at one point.  These truckers really shot themselves in the foot with this one. 

Director and writer Jonathan Mostow must have realized that this was kind of a stupid way to go about robbing someone because he even has one of his bad guys ask the other why he didn’t just pull a gun on the couple and force both of them into the truck.  But the reasoning that the bad guy gives is that Russell would’ve ran out into the desert instead of complying.  This makes absolutely no sense to me.  Russell is broken down miles from the nearest phone, he doesn’t get cell phone reception, there are no cars around (we never see anyone else pass them while they’re broke down), the cops are nowhere to be found, it’s not like it would’ve taken very long to whip a gun out and tell them to get in the truck and the gang would’ve taken them by surprise.  And I really doubt that Russell is going to run away when a gun is put in his face.  It’s way simpler with less to go wrong.  Instead there’s this whole mystery of Russell’s wife disappearing and Walsh denying he had ever seen them before. 

Of course this is all in the name of cinema and that’s why there’s this convoluted plot.  The truckers allude to ripping off many others before but it’s amazing that these guys got anyone’s money at all.  You really need to do some research before you have someone empty their bank account.  You should make sure there’s enough there to make it worth your while ‘cause you’re breaking some serious laws in my opinion like kidnapping and murder. 

Overall though, the movie isn’t that bad.  When you watch it the first time it’s really exciting actually because you don’t know what the hell’s going on.  Aside from the first time viewing thing the cast is pretty great and there are some really cool moments like the car chase at the end, the creepy cellar where Walsh keeps his victims and the really awesome scene where Russell gets his revenge on Gainey by duct taping his neck to the headrest of the truck and making sudden stops choking him.  I remember when I saw this picture in theaters the audience cheered and applauded during that part.

Once you know what’s going on your first thought will be, “wait, that was an overly complicated plot that the truckers had and could’ve been handled in a much better way”, but the second thought will be, “damn this movie just got really fun”.  Really the whole ending of the picture is kinda spectacular.  I mean there’s a duel on a truck that’s dangling off the side of a bridge.  I also like the way it fades to the credits with the eerily slow and quiet soundtrack playing.  That’s great mood.  It’s similar to how Mostow ends Terminator 3 (which makes me want to go back and check out that film again). 

But what I’ll remember this movie for most is the “fuck you”, “no fuck you!” exchange between Gainey and Russell.  It’s up there for me in badass moments.