Stephen Dorff stars in Brake, a terrible incarnation of Buried [Ryan Reynolds vehicle] , with the former making the latter look like a masterpiece.
Dorff, playing Jeremy Reins, wakes up enclosed in a tight space with no viable means of escape. The underground coffin that Reynolds found himself in has been transformed into a plastic box in the trunk of an apparently enormous car. At first Reins appears to have no idea why he’s been kidnapped, though once he utters the words ‘P.O.T.U.S.’ – which I’m fairly sure the audience is supposed to be baffled by – we become aware that he is in fact a government agent.
It’s jaw-droppingly daft and mind-numbingly stupid, with both a story and script that make little to no sense. There are numerous dialogue exchanges along the lines of, “God damn you terrorists, I’m a secret agent and I won’t let you get away with this – get me the pentagon…” and so on and so forth.
It’s like an episode of 24 written by a child, particularly towards the twist-centric ending; you presume one logic-defying leap is coming, but boy are you in for a shock to the system. The shock, when it comes, is so ridiculous you’ll not know whether to laugh or cry in despair.
This is a disaster of an imitation; a low budget, low intelligence, low sense, dull thriller that would have a place in the straight-to-DVD market were it not for the truly abysmal ending.
Tom has awarded Brake one Torch of Truth.
