Most of us deal with car trouble from time to time. For a dark vision of what could go wrong in these circumstances, we head to 1997’s Breakdown.

Jeff Taylor (Kurt Russell) and his wife Amy (Kathleen Quinlan) take a road trip from Massachusetts toward their new home in California. As they traverse a dark desert highway, their vehicle craps out in the middle of nowhere.

Happily, trucker Red Barr (JT Walsh) comes along and offers to drive Amy into town while Jeff waits with the Jeep. Though Jeff expects to see a tow truck in short order, he waits for hours.

Eventually Jeff fixes the problem on his own and finds his way into town, where he finds no trace of Amy – and when he meets Red, the trucker claims he never met Jeff or Amy. With his wife’s whereabouts unknown, Jeff embarks on a perilous journey.

The term gets overused, but I think it makes sense to refer to Breakdown as “Hitchcockian”. Like much of that legendary director’s work, the 1997 film focuses on an ordinary man pushed to the brink by extraordinary circumstances. Hitch probably wouldn’t have given Breakdown the kind of action orientation we find here, though. Not that the movie comes packed with visceral thrills, but it delivers a more aggressive impression that we would usually get from Hitchcock.

Of course, director Jonathan Mostow is no Hitchcock. Mostow made his directorial debut back in 1989 with Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers and proceeded to make only 5 more features since then, with 2017’s Hunter’s Prayer as his last effort to date.

Mostow never rose above the level of “pretty decent” as a director. His two best-known flicks – 2000’s U-571 and 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines both became enjoyable but not great films, and Breakdown follows the same path.

Honestly, I can find it tough to locate anything that goes particularly wrong in Breakdown. This turns into a solid, professional effort from start to finish.

Mostow manages to imbue Breakdown with just enough suspense and action to keep us engaged. Again, nothing goes awry here, as the movie creates a reasonably engaging drama.

However, Breakdown never rises above that level either. Much of the film can feel a little “by the numbers”, as Mostow’s inability to bring us anything particularly original or creative lends the film a semi-generic feel at times.

Breakdown does enjoy a nice cast. No one here elevates the material, but they give the often ludicrous action a sense of grounding that helps it.

Ultimately, Breakdown winds up as a more than watchable 93 minutes of suspense. It doesn’t deliver an experience that innovates or adds anything special to the genre, but it manages to become a perfectly enjoyable thriller.

Breakdown appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Overall, the Dolby Vision image looked good.

For the most part, sharpness seemed positive. Occasionally I saw some mildly soft images – mainly during interiors - but those didn’t occur with any frequency, so most of the movie appeared concise and well-defined.

No jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws also remained absent.

When we considered the arid setting of most of the movie, it didn’t lend itself to a dynamic palette, and dusty amber tones dominated the tale. Some blues materialized as well, usually via clothes.

These appeared well-rendered and appropriately full. HDR gave the hues added punch. P> As for blacks, these seemed pretty deep and firm, while the occasional low-light shots looked clean and smooth. Whites and contrast enjoyed extra power from HDR. I felt happy with the quality of the picture.

Given the nature of the story, it shouldn’t surprise that the movie’s Dolby TrueHD 5.1 focused on vehicle-related material. Since most of the story took place on the highway, this allowed the tale to deliver a fair amount of action, with cars, trucks and related elements that moved around the room in a largely concise, immersive manner.

Audio quality also worked well, with natural, clear speech and vivid music. The score seemed rich and dynamic.

Effects packed a nice punch, as those elements appeared accurate and full, with deep, resonant low-end. This became an appropriate mix for this kind of thriller.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2021? Both came with identical audio.

On the other hand, the 4K’s Dolby Vision image came with nice improvements in accuracy, colors and blacks. Given that this never turned into the most dynamic visual presentation, the 4K didn’t blow away the BD, but it still offered a step up in quality.

No extras appear on the 4K disc itself, but we get a mix on the included Blu-ray copy, where we open with an audio commentary from co-writer/director Jonathan Mostow and actor Kurt Russell. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, inspirations and influences, cast and performances, sets and locations, stunts and action, music, editing, and related domains.

Overall, this becomes a fairly satisfying track. Mostow and Russell show a nice interaction and they deliver a mix of good insights. Occasionally the commentary leans too heavy toward happy talk, but this usually remains an engaging chat.

Also alongside the movie, we can watch with an isolated score. This comes as a lossless option, as the music boasts Dolby TrueHD stereo audio. We almost always get lossy isolated scores, so this comes as a pleasant surprise.

Some featurettes follow, and Victory Is Hers runs four minutes, 22 seconds and includes notes from actor Kathleen Quinlan. She talks about working with Russell and other aspects of her experiences on Breakdown. Though brief, this becomes an engaging chat.

A Brilliant Partnership lasts eight minutes, 18 seconds and features producer Martha De Laurentiis as she discusses the project’s development and bringing Mostow onto the production, casting and the movie’s release. Expect another useful overview.

Filmmaker Focus goes for 10 minutes, 46 seconds and offers more info from Mostow. He looks at the project’s origins, cast and performances, stunts, action and editing, and the film’s reception. Some of the material repeats from the commentary, but Mostow offers a mix of good new notes.

We also find an Altermate Opening. Including a two-minute, 38-second intro from Mostow, it spans 11 minutes, 40 seconds and shows additional backstory about the two leads. This all feels disconnected from the main story, so I suspect this footage would’ve been out of place in the final cut.

We can view the “Alternate Opening” with or without commentary from Mostow. He gives us info about the material and why he left it out of the final film. Actually, the intro covers the fact that the producers forced him to shoot this “Opening”, but the commentary adds a few good notes about related elements.

The disc also provides trailers. We get promos for Breakdown as well as Kiss the Girls and Hard Rain.

As far as thrillers go, Breakdown feels middle of the pack. While it provides a pretty good genre entry, it never threatens to become truly memorable. The 4K UHD boasts appealing picture and audio as well as an assortment of bonus materials. This becomes a quality release for a moderately engaging tale.

Note that as of September 2024, this Breakdown 4K UHD can be purchased solely as part of a four-movie "Paramount Scares Volume 2” box. That package also includes 4K UHD releases for Friday the 13th Part 2, 2013’s World War Z and 2022’s Orphan: First Kill.

In addition, the package provides a special edition of Fangoria magazine along with iron-on patches for each film, a “Paramount Scares” logo sticker, a “Paramount Scares” glow-in-the-dark enamel pin and a special poster.

Of these four movies, only World War Z enjoys an existing individual 4K release, though it differs from this one, as it came from Shout! Factory in 2023. Friday, Breakdown and First Kill all make their 4K debuts in this set and they are only available as part of this box as of fall 2024.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of BREAKDOWN