Breakdown

The genre of the film 'Breakdown' is action. Firstly, the non diegetic sound which is used within the film is fast making everything seem as though it is going at a fast pace and there are also high pitched parts of the music which create suspense as the action takes place. Furthermore, the editing is fast as scenes go quickly from one to another spending no time focusing on one certain thing so there is always something happening.

This film tells the story by following McKee's five part narrative theory. Firstly, there is an inciting incident which sets things going, which in this film is the break down of the couples car. Then progressive complications begin to take place. The wife (Amy) goes with a passing trucker in order to seek help and arranges a meeting place with her husband (Jeff) at the cafe just down the road. Minutes after Amy has left in the truck, the car starts again so Jeff goes to meet her. Upon arrival he realises the truck is not to be seen and soon finds out his wife is not in the cafe and that she is now missing. The next part of the narrative is the crisis, where things get worse and come to a head. Jeff finds out that Amy is not only missing, but that she in fact has been kidnapped therefore he does everything he can to rescue her. Following from this is the climax of the film, the moment when the two opposing forces come head to head. Jeff takes on the four men who have kidnapped his wife which surprisingly results in him killing them all and surviving himself. Finally comes the resolution of the narrative. Jeff and Amy are reunited and safe as all of the kidnappers are now dead. The main issues have been resolved and things can begin to return to normal although things will never return to how they was before.

Enigmas are riddles or mysteries which help to move the narrative along as they keep the audience interested and guessing what is going to happen next and they are used throughout the film Breakdown. We see enigmas right from the beginning of the film when Jeff and Amy have a long conversation about specifically 90,000 donuts. We wonder why so much emphasis is placed on the donuts then later in the film we find that the term '90,000 donuts' is the one thing which ends up saving the couple. More examples of enigmas are when the audience is left wondering where Amy has disappeared to, also towards the end of the film when Amy is locked in the cellar as it leaves the audience wondering how she is going to get out and question if she ever will get out.

Personally, I feel that parts of this film are predictable such as the couple being reunited in the end. However I didn't expect Jeff to have killed all four of the kidnappers, at times I thought that Jeff would have been killed by the kidnappers.