Just so...so bad

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

THE BREAK is a typical British crime picture which effortlessly delivers the goods in a low budget way. It's one of those films where a bunch of characters are holed up in an isolated location and each have their own motivations for being there, although this time around it's a grubby farmhouse B&B which gives the film a kind of muddy, down to earth charm: a story of barns and mud-splattered vehicles, if you will.Presiding over things is William Lucas, a violent escaped criminal in the great British B-movie tradition. Lucas plays a truly sinister and ruthless character who dominates the proceedings quite considerably. Writer hero Tony Britton is a bore by comparison, but there are some finely-judged supporting performances here from the likes of Robert Urquhart and Edwin Richfield as a farm worker.Hard-working director Lance Comfort gets every penny of his budget up on the screen and there are no slow spots or glaring errors that stand out. The female characters have more importance to the storyline than usual and there are some exciting set-pieces including a chase through the countryside that reminded me of a scene in THE WALKING DEAD involving the Governor; a film to rival the big boys at times, then.

Let's put it this way you will have seen this film and variants many times.It is however effectively handled by Lance Comfort.Jacko manages to escape from a train,kill the guard and ramshackle himself without too much difficulty.He then manages to get to a hotel near Newton Abbott's where his gang seem to comprise the staff whilst indulging in a lifeline of stealing whiskey.One of the guests is a failed writer,whose wife wants to divorce him.Robert Urquhart plays a seedy private eye trying to get evidence for the wife's divorce.He gets too nosey and is killed by Jacko,who rather losses control and kills a gang member.Eventually Jacko gets his just deserts.

Unlike what the other reviewer said Jacko Thomas doesn't make his escape from Dartmoor prison, he doesn't even get there. It's starts with Jacko Thomas been escorted by two plainclothes police officers (by train) to Dartmoor prison. he starts fighting them and jumps off of the speeding train with one of them. This one he later kills. He is then transported by a boat and a Landrover to the 'Tredgar's Farm Guesthouse' in the middle of nowhere. The next day three other guests arrive, the writer Greg Parker, Joseph Parker (who is played by Robert Urguhart, in almost the same way as he played Monckton in the 'Danger Man' episode 'Man With The Foot'), the last visitor is Jacko's beautiful sister Sue who has brought his stolen money. Fast paced and excellent direction from Lance Comfort. Lots of Twists and turns in the plot including Pearson 'phoning someone to tell them where Jacko is or does he mean Parker? and with Jacko having an affair with Tredgar's wife. Pretty good plot wise. Will he make his escape or not?

What a wonderful little British thriller. A real crime movie, fast paced, a good cast of actors. Powerful performances. An effective score too. It begins with the sequence of an escape from Dartmoor prison, in the British country side, in the middle of nowhere. The escapists are of course helped by a bunch of hoods. And every one get hidden in a sort of cottage. There is a very exciting chase, in the country side, between a running man and a Land Rover, in the mud.We already know the actors. I don't remember their names, but I saw them in lots of films from this era. Lance Comfort has not made so many movies, but they are all efficient.