Break (III) (2008) User Reviews (21)

Very low budget thriller with some decent action and cameos

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 25 March 2017]

BREAK is a very low budget action thriller which boasts some surprisingly decent action scenes and plenty of cameo appearances from old time stars. I should note from the outset that the nature of this production is merely one step above a shot-on-video production, so don't expect this to be a nice-looking, glossy and professional movie. Instead it's a bare bones story about a hit-man turning on his old boss, a somewhat hackneyed premise in the genre these days.

Although the film has a generally unrealistic look, it does contain a handful of fight scenes which are a lot of fun. The first comes when our hero tangles with a couple of knife-wielding thugs and makes short work of them, but the highlight sees a bunch of Asian guys brawling in a restaurant and features some great moves combined with above average choreography. The cameos are from the likes of Charles Durning, David Carradine, and Michael Madsen, some of them on their last legs but still a welcome presence in this otherwise unremarkable movie.

good film- worth the watch

[joecat18 · 9 November 2011]

First off, thought this was a great action packed indie movie with unexpected humor. Second line into the movie and I was laughing. Good plot, believable characters in this scenario. Big fan of Michael Madsen, and wasn't let down! Michael Madsen brings his tough guy charm every time. Frank Krueger nails down the introverted pretty boy hit-man. A little disappointed that I didn't see more of David Carradine or his circus that surrounded him. Thought the Chinaman was a modern gangsta Bruce Lee on steroids which made awesome fighting scenes. All and all thought the director of the film did a great job bringing the story and characters together. Plus this movie kind of leaves you hanging and making you wonder at the end which was cool.

Horrid. Total waste of time and effort. Utter crap.

[ragges-1 · 1/10 · 6 August 2009]

Bad acting. Really bad dialog. There's a character named haiku that speaks only in haikus. It is so bad that its even beyond those moments when your watching something like seventh heaven and you get those douche chills, this you only shake your head and say "what garbage!" This movie fails to elicit any emotional response. Its like a high budget high school movie. Daddy should not be giving his kid money to make this garbage. Please do not be curious and watch this movie to see how bad it is. Its just really dull. It one of those movies that is so bad that you waste your time writing ten lines of text to insure no one else makes the same mistake as you.

What a waste of an hour and a half!

[clulham · 1/10 · 4 August 2009]

If this was supposed to be Mr Carradine's swan song then I'm glad he's gone to a better place! and dose'nt have to read the reviews as because he'd probably died of the shame! Pathetic acting from the entire cast through the film...No depth to the characters, no finesse,the Mr Big,I've never seen such a wimp ! and as with a previous review, I don't think the credit card used for the budget was maxed out! I'm really struggling to find a polite word to say about this movie. I'd heard that David Carradine sadly passed away during the production of this movie but I didn't realise that so did the plot! His scene was real perverse to say the least!! Seriously people ,don't waste your time I've already wasted mine on your behalf!!

Don't waste your time...

[evilgc · 1/10 · 1 August 2009]

Surely, the credit card maxed out to make this movie could have been spent on something better. The storyline in parts doesn't make any sense. The directing is not even worthy of a Smithy. The acting is just as bad as the storyline and direction. Trust me, you will thank me later. Save 90 minutes of your life and steer clear of this film.

(please excuse the rest of this. IMDb requires 10 lines of text to post and this movie isn't worth the extra lines so here's some filler)

Here's the exact same summary to fill space:

Surely, the credit card maxed out to make this movie could have been spent on something better. The storyline in parts doesn't make any sense. The directing is not even worthy of a Smithy. The acting is just as bad as the storyline and direction. Trust me, you will thank me later. Save 90 minutes of your life and steer clear of this film.

GC

Truly not watchable

[lakrasia · 1/10 · 13 February 2010]

The opening scene was good and it went steadily downhill after that. The script was beyond bad, as it went way beyond artistic-licence and made no effort to be even the tiniest bit credible.

The characters behaved in ways that made no sense and in the unlikely event that you get drawn into it, I think you'll find one disappointment after another because of this fundamental flaw.

It felt like the director was trying too hard to make a stylish film noir. In this he failed abysmally, because there was a complete lack of subtlety, which made the entire effort fall flat on its face.

Like many, I expected more of a film with such a cast, so I was very disappointed.

Awful

[tuxlie · 1/10 · 8 August 2009]

What on earth are Charles Durning, David Carradine and Michael Madsen doing in this pile of rubbish ? OK, true, Charles Durning looks to be in his nineties and David Carradine had made some turkeys before but Michael Madsen ? Whilst no-budget doesn't have to equal bad in this case in does. Oh yes indeedy.

Everything has a cardboard feel to it, as if the sets would fall down if you blew on them. The Lead actor is so wooden he's sprouted roots. There are awkward silences in the dialogue; a "crowded" bar translates as two extras, an "empty" bar suddenly has an audience bursting into applause. Its just awful. Avoid.

Great Indie Flick

[BobbyBlvd · 9/10 · 25 March 2009]

I saw Break in Seattle at a festival last year and I must say I'm glad I did. It was one of the only films at the festival with some good names and I was particularly interested in seeing it because I've been a Madsen fan for a long time, although I typically don't expect much from his lower budget projects. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot more out of this film than the usual Madsen action movie. Madsen actually plays a supporting role (and gives a great performance) alongside some other really great actors like David Carradine, Charles Durning and the girl from Angel. The movie is a bit misleading at first, starting as more of a crime drama/love story, then halfway through morphs into a killer action flick with the introduction of Xin. The fight scenes are some of the most creative I've seen in an indie. There's so much going on in this movie in terms of characters (there's a lot) and side stories (there's several) and genres (crime/drama/action/dark comedy - and those are just the ones I picked up on) yet it all just works. I'm glad to see this movie finally being released and I would definitely recommend watching it if you're up for something original and fun.

A slightly perverse comic-book film noir... with unexpected humor...

[introact · 7/10 · 2 May 2009]

Last night, we went to see a screening of a new film to see the on-screen debut of my long-time friend and collaborator, singer-songwriter Evyn Charles... a comic-book-styled film noir called "Break"...

... and it was good to see Chad Everett again, after all these years, in a pitch-perfect performance as The Man.

... and we laughed many times at bodyguard Haiku's haiku sentences, Michael Madson's enthusiasm for BIG women and especially at David Carradine's perverse epicurean sex-voyeur. ("Would you like to feed Rupert?")

... and we agreed that newcomer Xin Sarith Wuku has the makings of a martial-arts movie star with his muscular neo-Bruce-Lee fighting style.

Though a bit uneven at times, this film certainly has its pleasures.

Hahaha - Madsen and his fat women - 2 thumbs up

[beersoclock · 8/10 · 5 April 2010]

Reasons to see this movie: 1. Michael Madsen and his fat woman fetish 2. David Carradine has a brothel and a midget 3-4. The headlights on the girl in the Carradine scene 5. Great kung fu 6. Killer soundtrack from Peter Distefano

Reasons not to see this movie: 1. Although well done as a whole it's obvious in places it's low budget 2. Would have liked more action and less love story

Overall, Break is worth a peek. Don't listen to the 'not watchable' morons. It isn't a Hollywood classic, but it's not trying to be and it's a lotta fun to watch.

I really liked this film!!

[wyliesmall · 7/10 · 14 August 2009]

I really, really enjoyed this film!! The idea of matching film noir with a modern action film was so terrific! Fresh approach, unique story line with a sense of humor and a good mix of established stars while introducing some new faces. Great to see so many names on screen lending their talent to a small, independent film. This is what independent film-making is all about. Loved the sensitivity and strength of the lead actor, Frank Krueger, playing a hit man in his first feature and holding his own against, Charles Durning, Michael Madsen, the iconic, Chad Everett and David Carradine in his last completed film before his death. The fight scenes between Frank Krueger and new comer Xin Sarith Wuku are worth the price of admission!! All around really great job!

Loved it!

[hoffmana43 · 11 November 2011]

I'm a big fan of these types of movies. I think you either love it or hate it! I loved Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, I think this movie has a little of both in it. Its mobster w/ martial arts; two things I love and its FUNNY on top of all that. Did NOT expect this movie to be funny. I don't think this movie was supposed to be taken too seriously, hence the Mo, Larry, Curly essence.

The Chinaman kicks a** and this film needed this type of character to be taken seriously. Its a good indie action packed film, didn't expect it to be a blockbuster.

Madsen is great as always, yeah we see him play this 'guy' a lot but he's great at it and you can't help but be a fan every time.

James Russo is great. After Carradine passed, you see this flick and it kind a makes sense (maybe there was a little method acting in there, who knows?). Now for Frank Krueger- look, I get it, good looking mobster hit-man who falls in love, just wish he was a little less introverted kind of dulled it for me but regardless still a good movie.

I rank it high because of the good intentions- talented director. You either get it or you don't. Let's see someone else try to make a film like this on a budget and actually finish it- that's what I say to the nay sayers!

What a great movie!

[mokane-1 · 10/10 · 1 August 2009]

The dialog of this movie is great, you got to love David Carradine's (RIP) part, he was the high light of this movie, going to miss that SOB! Never the less, this movie did not have to much on the way of action, but it does not need it not with Michael Madsen's way of cracking a few lines, and Frank Krueger's screen presence. Watch out for Xin Sarith Wuku, he's going to some one to watch for in action movies. Heck I thought Charles Durning was dead, have not seen this guy for a while, but he did a great job as the wise man. This is defiantly low budget, none the less it's great, you get to see and hear the script as it truly deserves to be read by very talented actor and actresses. Regarding this movie I wish the the big budget producers take note and use the talent and script available to them and produce movies that are worth watching. You've got to see this movie, just listen to the lines and be amazed.

OK for a Tuesday afternoon with a few really nice bits

[ronisaurus · 6/10 · 4 August 2009]

May contain spoilers, if u don't like them don't read IMDb too much or just close your eyes when it spoils!

I liked a lot of things about this movie, but i also felt it could have been much more polished if the crew had worked together on it with doubled efforts.

First the cold:

Starts off with a pretty good noir-like tone! Then comes the letdown: The main character's acting looks a bit dull at the start, but then i kind of started to get the hang of his style, though i never really got to like him. Lots of pauses to emphasize the drama, yet the drama never really moved me... all this with noir-wannabe tunes in the background making some otherwise interesting scenes as dull as possible. Some acts just come out stupid with the settings, the lights, the pauses and the whole setup around them. Some acts are just simply weak and lifeless. Some of the weaker acts of the movie could've stood their ground if only the environments were more fitting (including the music, the colors, the after-imaging). Some parts of the audio mastering was like it just came off the Failboat. The color mastering was decent, but still had a slight stench of FAIL at parts - well at least it was clean, simple but nothing too creative. The pauses... oh those pauses they almost had me fall asleep. It was shouting off of the whole project, that the director (Mr. Clebanoff) intended lots of the film's aspects to be just the way he imagined them - but IMHO even cold-blooded characters should seem to be living creatures, so this heavy portions of lifeless acting really hurt the atmosphere - so, i really hope next time he keeps kicking his actors around until they incorporate breathing, body language and general basic life-signs into their overall acting. Im just typing this in hopes that he might read the comments if out of nothing else, then at least vanity - and spend even more energy in producing his next film whatever it might be... for he pulled off a few really nice things in this one.

Now of the better aspects of Break:

Madsen with his few lines and lively mimics totally kept my interest in the movie even tho he was only a minor character. So was it with Carradine, seeing him kicking @ss filling his role like the best possible person to do so. Xin... well i kept an eye on him since his urban ninja thing caught my attention on Youtube... he sure cant act yet, but his moves might carry him along a nice long road and i really hope they will. He has to learn to fully and wholeheartedly choreograph his own fights (including teaching his partners), and ways to get to a good understanding with the director and he has to learn a lot of things about having his own raws cut, because while he'll only be employed in low-budget stuff he'll need these skills in order to rise. Oh and i hope i'll see him punch faster in his next flick :) He'll be a rock star if he learns to act as humbly as needed for the big screen. Umm the rest of the crew was okay, even Matthew Jones with his seemingly thuggish and intentionally dumb acts. The girls were... also not very strong in acting, but at least nice looking. The ending broke my heart (it was so boring compared to the rather fun parts of the film) ^^

And the winner is:

The one that has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the budget limits, and the time limits, and the coffee-intake capacity limits, and of course the magnificent ability of still not giving enough of s#&t about his own project while working his @ss off trying his best: Mistarrrrrr Clebanoff :D /applaud him you all-ignorant "gimmebackmy90minutes" crazies, for he did well this round/ - for all in all he made you a pretty decent movie with some really nice parts and some solid casts + a unique atmosphere like no recent movies -

I hope this guy gets to learn from the reflections of this work of his to make us enjoy much-much better movies than this. And this one turned out to be pretty enjoyable. I'm totally buying this DVD if for nothing else, then to FFW into the parts which i really like about this movie and show them to some friends - for it's been a long time i last enjoyed such great scenes (even if there were so few of them in a movie ^^)

See it if you have spare time for a nice and unique low-budget movie!

One of the better ones

[dxbklove · 8/10 · 5 October 2009]

I have to say, I'm puzzled at the people who have written such awful comments about this film. I go to film festivals often enough to know that Break is definitely one of the better movies when it comes to low budget independent films. It's not without its flaws but it seems that maybe people have missed the point of this film or simply just take it too seriously. If you did take it seriously I could see where it would be worth bashing but even the director on the special features makes a point of saying it doesn't take itself seriously. Too bad for those people because there is a lot here worth mentioning. Good to see some of the usual suspects like Madsen, Carradine and Russo. Finally, an indie film that gave Madsen something to work with! He is hilarious in this movie. Carradine's sequence is a bit haunting given recent events. It's too bad some people are so used to watching canned big budget Hollywood spectacles that they fail to recognize a great indie film when they see one.

Entertaining.

[masonalexis16 · 11 November 2011]

I saw this movie with my boyfriend, which he LOVED it! I love comic books, I'm sort of a comic book junkie so thats one of the reasons why I wanted to see this. The characters are fun to watch because it does seem like their from a comic book however, thought the director could have made it a little more obvious that it was. Having said that, Marc Clebanoff is a talented writer/ director- he knows how to tell a story and bring it to life, in this one he does it with humor which is great! What I also loved about this movie was that it wasn't gory like most action/martial arts movies are, us girls aren't big fans of bloody scenes and this movie kept it clean. Frank Krueger is a cutie pie, he's someone I would like to see more of actually, see what else he could do. I mean, I could see him play someone in a Romantic Comedy or something. He came off kind of innocent for a hit-man, seemed torn a little. I liked the girl who was seeking revenge for her husband, that was cool. Um and I don't know about you but the deaf security guard or hit-man(too) was hysterical not that I'm making fun of deaf people but it was hysterical to see that particular scene! So I give it a 9 because it could have more of a comic book feel but overall entertaining for an independent film.

Comic book comes alive

[kevin-waters-250-887922 · 7/10 · 3 January 2012]

I saw this movie just recently and I really liked it. You have to know going in that it's a smaller budget film so you can't expect a huge action movie. It gave me exactly what it said it would...a comic book that basically came alive with a great martial arts sequence in the middle and the crazy, larger than life characters that belong in it.

So it was really cool...no huge explosions or anything, but that's not what it's supposed to be. It kind of reminds me of some film noir type stuff from the 40's and was super cool. It even gets better because Michael Madsen is in it and he's awesome! I was also surprised at how many people I recognized in a movie like this...Madsen, David Carradine, James Russo, and Chad Everett have all been in a lot of stuff and it was cool to see them together in this movie. So, overall, not the best of Hollywood, but definitely worth a rent or buy. I found it super cheap so you probably can too.

Love it

[tabsonuall · 10/10 · 8 October 2009]

I'm still chuckling after seeing this movie. Normally I wouldn't watch this type of film but I saw clips from this when David Carradine passed away so went to check it out. The only down side to Carradine in this movie is that he's not in very much of it. Luckily there are some other more prominent characters that make up for it. Michael Madsen's fetish with overweight women is simply priceless. It was great seeing Chad Everett again and boy does he still have it. Love The China Man - the world's former most deadly assassin whose lost it due to a drinking problem. I'm still laughing every time I think about "Teach me karate!" Break has some typical weak links but overall it was a great time. A great attempt at creating an old school noir thriller complimented by a very beautiful original theme.

Give it a break

[patrick-james79 · 9/10 · 5 April 2010]

I saw this movie with my girlfriend the other night and really liked it. It was different than I thought it would be but really liked the vintage noir combined with the comic book twist. Some parts fall a bit flat but the characters are all great, especially Carradine's role considering the details surrounding his demise. It was great seeing Chad Everett show up in a meaty role like this. He was probably the strongest single element, which is saying a lot considering how many elements were thrown in the mix. For a small independent, I think Break is stronger than most. The Europeans don't seem to really enjoy it but I'm glad I checked it out and would recommend it to others who enjoy a good noir flick.

This would make a great comic book

[hopeprevails10 · 9/10 · 1 July 2010]

On the commentary of this movie the director says that Break is supposed to be a comic book come to life. I think a lot of people missed that in this movie based on some of the comments. The storyline, characters and dialog all seem right out of a comic book which made it a lot of fun to watch. None of the characters, except for the lead have names and the dialog is fantastically cartoonish. I think anyone who is looking for a serious action flick may be disappointed in Break but comic book fans will really appreciate it for what it is. I read that an online series spin off is coming out that really plays up the comic book element which I'm excited to see because I think the movie could have built that up a bit more.

Good flick!

[ghollyanne · 11 November 2011]

So here's my opinion. My guy friends were raving about this movie so I decided to watch it and surprisingly it was good. I'm not big into "indie" type films so I was hesitant, always thought they were artsy and it turns out there not all artsy so consider me a fan now! I liked that its based off a comic book, I know you can't really tell at times but the characters and dialogue make up for that. This film had so many funny scenes in it, I was really LOL'ing a lot which was great- but I was surprised the whole time because you don't see the funny parts coming. I really loved that the fighting scenes weren't to harsh and I didn't have to look away like most other fighting scenes. PLUS the hit-man Frank was really, really cute, and you loved his character, he was a nice guy really. Kudos to the girl who wanted to seek revenge and the singing girl. Liked that Marc Clebanoff wrote strong characters for women and they weren't victims, finally! See some girls kicking butt. I actually thought it was Sheryl Crow signing when I first heard the song Break in the beginning, turns out it wasn't it was "blonde"! You'll have to see it to know what I'm talking about if you haven't. I would actually tell a lot of girls to see this film too, its not just a boys movie which is great! Oh and the ending.. OMG girlfriend, crazy, crazy,crazy! that's all I have to say about that!