Abi Damaris Corbin’s quiet feature debut, Breaking, is a movie that does everything Nick Cassavetes’s disaster John Q failed to do when it managed to make $71 million domestically in 2002. Of all the things Denzel Washington has saved in his movies (subways, jets, submarines, locomotive trains), holding up a hospital and forcing a doctor to perform life-saving surgery on his son was, by far, his worst. Unfortunately, Washington’s always-solid performance couldn’t save an absurd script based on a ridiculous presence. The based-on-a-true-story Breaking offers breakout performances by Corbin and the film’s lead, John Boyega (Detroit, The Woman King), most notably recognized for his role as Finn in the latest Star Wars movies.

Based on actual events, Breaking tells the story of Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley (Boyega), who, in 2017, entered an Atlanta Wells Fargo bank and handed a note to a bank teller that said he had a bomb in his backpack. He isn’t there to rob the bank. Facing homelessness, Brian has decided that this is his best course of action to generate as big of an audience as possible that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has denied the monthly disability check of $892 that he has come to rely upon. The phrase, “We are our most dangerous when we are most desperate,” rings true here.

Brian allows everyone in the bank to leave, except for branch manager Estele (Nicole Beharie – 42, Shame) and teller Rosa (Selenis Leyva – Spider-Man: Homecoming, Netflix’s Orange is the New Black). These are his hostages that he’ll use as his negotiation pieces as he makes his way around the lobby to close the window blinds. He repeatedly promises that neither woman will be hurt. So what does Brian know that we don’t know?

Through early interactions with his loving, elementary-school-aged phone interactions with daughter Kiah, we learn that Brian is a devoted father and maintains a cordial friendship with his ex-wife (Olivia Washington). Knowing her history of dealing with his mental state adds a further glimpse into a man who has had episodes before but nothing that came close to escalating to the bank incident. There are a couple of flashbacks in Breaking, with the most poignant one with him at the Veterans Affairs office, telling his side of the story about his disability benefits, only for the employee on the other side of the computer to explain why he won’t be getting them, and there’s nothing she can do. Upon leaving the office, Brian sees lines of those like him waiting to receive similar dire news. It is this scene that causes him to act.

The film, save for the first ten minutes, is of Brian in the bank. Then, finally, he reaches a local television outlet, where reporter Connie Britton (Promising Young Woman, The Mustang) tries to relay his story. In contrast, hostage negotiator Eli (Michael K. Williams – HBO’s The Wire, 12 Years a Slave, in the final role of his career), a military veteran himself, tries to take Brian out of doing something that he’ll regret, telling him that there is still a way out of his predicament. Boyega dives deep into this character, while Beharie and Leyva are well cast as his counterparts. Williams, in a limited role, is also effective. Briton feels a bit wasted. Anybody could have played her part as effectively as she did.

Through nearly perfect filming, we witness Brian’s turmoil firsthand. We also peer into an otherwise good man who cannot stand the thought of being homeless again, especially when he doesn’t understand why he suddenly isn’t receiving his government-issued monthly payment.

The biggest problem with the movie was that I never really felt like there was any danger. While I didn’t know how the film would end, Brian was sincere, endearing, and truthful enough in his narrative that I believed him when he promised Estel and Rosa they wouldn’t get hurt. It took away the suspense factor, which felt ironic for a bank heist film. And while this is much more a hostage film than a bank robbery film, I initially expected more tension. But this was not a film about a man who knew he would be locked up for a long time based on the crime he was in the middle of committing as much as it was about a man physically breaking down after his mental health battles became too overwhelming. While this was apparent through Boyega’s detailed, nuanced portrayal, I didn’t feel his distraught as much as others may have. The few flashback scenes were brief and inconsistent, and needed to add more to warrant having them. We didn’t learn anything more about Brian through the flashbacks. Instead, Corbin used this method to sequence breaks in a movie that ultimately felt like it was filmed in real time.

I wanted to learn more about Brian. We had too great of an actor for Corbin not to take us deeper into this character, though I understand his direction. Corbin wanted us to know as much about Brian as Estel and Rosa, and for that to happen in a two-dimensional environment, we could only see what they saw and hear what they heard. I would have preferred a deeper dive since we had the elements, but I can’t fault the filmmaker for fully executing his story as he wanted to. Nevertheless, I desired a deeper dive into Brian’s mind, as films about mental health fascinate me.

The brilliance of Breaking was in how authentic it felt. Never did Corbin try to glamorize or demonize the situation, nor did Boyega try to overthink or outperform the script. Instead, breaking felt like we were a third hostage in the bank, only we weren’t allowed to say anything and had to follow Brian with our handheld camera.

Breaking will not finish in my end-of-year top ten for 2022, though it would have had a 2020 or 2021 release date.

Plot 9/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 9/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing  8.5/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
88%

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