Brake (2012)

The movie was a thriller start to finish. The best part was that what would seemingly be predictable never was and kept me enthralled the entire time. Great cast, Stephen Dorff gives a great performance. For those of you that may not be a fan or don't know much about his work, this is really a movie to see, he brings everything to the screen. The story is fun to watch develop, full of twists and turns and witty dialogue that adds just that right amount of sarcasm to intense situations. The movie is fantastically shot, kudos to the director and cinematography as well as the fx team that put together some great material for the filming, I would really like to catch some behind the scenes footage of the shooting of this movie. All in all this movie is one to watch as it pulls together the last things you would expect throughout and is great entertainment.

Fmovies: I went into see this movie, not having a clue of what to expect. I knew it starred Stephen Dorff, but I've never really been a big fan of his. It opened with Stephen trapped in some sort of box and like his character I had no idea what was going on...and I liked that. I liked that it put me in his shoes. And it continued like that every step of the way. Trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It was like 90 min of the best roller coaster ride...and I didn't want to get off! I was at the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It wasn't full of pyrotechnics and cgi for a change! Great writing and directing! Best move I've seen all year!

This was one of the most unique and intriguing films I have seen in years. My reaction to Brake was similar to when I first watched The Usual Suspects. I had only a loose understanding of what the film was about before I went in, but after I walked out, I was speechless. How? Thats the only thing I kept asking, how did they do it? A true think piece crossed with an action flick, nothing is what it seems in Brake. The performances are solid throughout, Stephen Dorff gives a gritty, organic performance and this vehicle finally allows him to flex those acting muscles in a way we haven't seen in some time. Gabe Torres takes a gamble on a script that seems immeasurably difficult to bring to life, and builds a roller-coaster ride out of it, flawlessly. If you have the chance, see this film! It will change your opinion about what is fundamentally possible in cinema.

Brake fmovies. Make no mistake about it, Stephen Dorff owns this film. He did such an excellent job. Since he plays the only visible character for about 93% of the film, I can confidently say it's worth a watch despite the glaring flaws of the film. He's just that entertaining here.

First off, I've never seen Buried, so my review will be unbiased in regards to that film - just keep that in mind. Overall, I thought the concept of Brake was pretty clever: Secret Service agent gets kidnapped; locked in the trunk of a constantly moving automobile by a group of mysterious terrorists; physically and mentally tortured by unconventional methods in order for them to get what they want. (As if any method of torture is conventional.) Will his character break (not BRAKE)? What exactly do the terrorists want and who are they? Will everything go according to plan along the way? You'll have to watch to find out.

A lot of people have complained about the ending (or multiple endings) and the ability to predict some of the plot twists, like, before the prologue. (No, just kidding.) Seriously, it was way too easy figuring this movie out. That said, I still enjoyed it. Listen, with a plot of this nature there are only a few ways this could have ended - either the terrorist will get what they want out of agent Jeremy Reines (Dorff) or they won't. Everything in between is just a waiting game of HOW they intend to get it out of him, WHAT it is they want, and IF Dorff's character will make it out alive or not. When it comes down to it, the ending (or multiple endings) does provide you with the answers. What more do you want people?!

Indeed, the plot is more than a bit far-fetched and I couldn't help but wonder why in the heck would anyone go through this much trouble to get something when there certainly were simpler (and probably more effective) methods to get the job done. I don't know, maybe they could have injected him with a truth serum or something. But then if that happened this wouldn't be called Brake; it'd be an entirely different movie.

There are some other issues. There were a few revelations that the writer, Timothy Mannion, intended to be relevant towards the climax of the film but he came up short big time. They made no sense in context to what had happened earlier in the film and added no value to the outcome of the film. Also, for Reines to be such a highly trained and alert Secret Service agent, he was often too naive in certain circumstances when even Stevie Wonder would have seen the writing on the wall. No fault of Dorff's though, as once again, this is more a reflection of poor writing than anything else.

Dorff was brilliant! That's why despite a cop out ending, sloppy writing, and plot elements so implausible that even M. Night Shyamalan would shake his head in shame, I still can't give it less than 7 stars. And that says a lot about Stephen's performance.

I must say I liked the movie. Would I watch it again? No. Up to the very end the movie was very interesting and it has been thus far - by my standards one of the best movies that you see 1:20mins only one actor acting.

Acting was good to great. Special attention was given to verbal communications to convey meaning and a big thumbs up for that.

Cinematography and editing was very good, too. It does not get boring or repetitive and the movie maintains an edge right close to the end. Very clever script actually.

I would spoil the movie if I continue to speak about the ending but If you haven't read many reviews (that could spoil the end) and like mystery flick I would recommend this movie.

7/10 for the clever movie but loses some point for the ending.