Breaking – Review
103 Minutes, RAted PG-13
Written by Abi Damaris Corbin and Kwame Kwei-Armah
Directed by Abi Damaris Corbin
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Mark’s review below. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
(Originally titled 892) When Marine Veteran Brian Brown-Easley is denied support from Veterans Affairs, financially desperate and running out of options, he takes a bank and several of its employees hostage, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with the police. Based on the true story.
“Based on a true story.”
Once again, we are confronted by some of the most terrifying words in cinema, as we’ve discussed here before…
… but judging by some side research, it feels as if our screenwriters and director have minimized their deviation from reality, while the rather stripped-down nature of the production would seem to support that assumption. What is effectively a one-set film (inside the bank), with only peripheral excursions outside, minimizes the opportunities for excess dramatic creativity.
Ironically, that is also kind of the problem with Breaking; not much happens here.
Don’t get me wrong, John Boyega does a great job at presenting us a physically, mentally, and emotionally broken man let down by the system that is supposed to be taking care of him, but the story as presented is narratively boring.
Yes, overall, the film presents us with yet another damning indictment of the Department of Veterans’ Affair (VA), one that we’ve seen countless times before in other films, but that’s not really enough to carry this film, because we know all that, and this film doesn’t really move beyond it.
Even the discussions between Brian and the hostage negotiator (Michael K. Williams) focuses on a Marine-to-Marine bitch-session about how the VA sucks.
But there’s never anything happening across the film’s runtime. Brian apologies–repeatedly–to the two bank employees he’s holding inside. The multi-agency response is haphazard, non-cooperative with one another, and inevitably results in tragedy.
It’s a shame such a fine performance by Boyega is wasted on a film with a story that should be tension-filled and dramatic, but which simply plays as slow and sad.
See it for Boyega’s performance and for a refresher on the ineptitude of the VA, but don’t expect a narrative tour-de-force.
Breaking is playing in theaters now and stars John Boyega, Nicole Beharie, Selenis Leyva, and Michael K. Williams.
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