Breaking Point

Entertaining and engaging movie, dont listen to the negative reviews, there are some good movies out there that get overlooked due to the negative reviews and this movie is one of them.

I recently watched Breaking Point (2009) on Tubi. The story follows a lawyer whose personal and professional life have fallen apart. When a single mother is murdered and her baby goes missing, he sees solving the case as his chance for redemption and a way to regain his self-worth.

Directed by Jeff Celentano (The Hill), the film stars Tom Berenger (Platoon), Busta Rhymes (Narc), Armand Assante (American Gangster), Frankie Faison (Coming to America), and Sticky Fingaz (Next Friday).

The cast delivered better performances than I expected. Busta Rhymes, in particular, is a surprisingly solid and ruthless villain-his performance even reminded me of Keith David at times. The film has plenty of violence and intensity, though there were a few too many scenes of women being slapped around for my taste. The action sequences are solid, featuring some entertaining gore and shootouts.

Unfortunately, a lot of the writing surrounding Berenger's character is over the top, unrealistic, and pushed too far. His drug rehabilitation subplot-especially how he essentially uses it to go undercover-felt like a stretch, as did some of the dramatic twists meant to force the film's conclusion. That said, I liked Sticky Fingaz's character, who was easy to root for.

In the end, Breaking Point has some surprisingly strong elements, but it's still a bad movie overall. I'd give it a 5/10 and only recommend it with the right expectations.

Flickers of sophistication. Otherwise, too long, too sentimental, too unselfconsciously overplayed. Berenger almost pulls off the sympathetic broken man character, but without enough cheap action to prop him up, he pretty much melts into the part. The premise is stock standard enough that a brainless monkey should be able to make a movie around it, but the script is so unbelievable, and oddly structured (moments of grainy flashback flicker sporadically through the plot, gradually advancing an all too obvious and predictable back story), with characters introduced in tossed-off, sitcom-ish scenes, never to reappear again, that its hard to get through more than a scene or two without groaning. Still, there are flares of inspiration - or rather, imitation with skill. But they are transitory moments - literally. As my first English teacher said when she was looking for something nice to say about one of my essays: "Good transitions!"

This film was far better than I expected. I rented it from Red Box on the way home just to have something on while I was doing something else, but the intensity of the scenes kept grabbing my attention until I relented, and sat down to watch it. Busta was a straight-up monster in this film and demanded my attention and props. Even in his comedic rap lyrics he has always given off an angry vibe; this was the perfect vehicle to express that rage. He was genuinely scary and I haven't thought that of a character in a long time. Berenger held his own in the role of a washed up semi-x-junkie lawyer, but because the character wasn't that interesting the actor didn't have much to work with; other notable (supporting) performances where Richard Allen as "Sticky Fingaz" and Frankie Faison as Judge Green.

Giving this film a 4.8 out of 362 spectators: is this some kind of bad joke?

This is a good gripping thriller with good acting especially by Busta Rhymes who is really frightening in his scenes. Well done.

I am not a rap fan, don't know nothing about rap, etc... don't like it too much, maybe I don't understand it, I don't know these people, so my appreciation is straightforward. Deserves a 7 minimum of minima.

Well done.

Giving this film a 4.8 out of 362 spectators: is this some kind of bad joke?

This is a good gripping thriller with good acting especially by Busta Rhymes who is really frightening in his scenes. Well done.

I am nota rap fan, don't know nothing about rap, etc... don't like it too much, maybe I don't understand it, I don't know these people, so my appreciation is straightforward. Deserves a 7 minimum of minima.

Well done.