Metacritic-Rezensionen

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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