Cross-country road trips can be awesome. For some, there’s nothing better than getting some buds, tasty junk food and soda, planning some stops, and driving long distances with the windows down, country views, a loud stereo, and some funny stories. There’s a serene simplicity to road trips that isn’t exactly replicable elsewhere, especially when wide-open fields, rocks, and diverse forests line many highways. So long as you prepare for the dangers of the open road and those using it for shady means, a road trip can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Unfortunately for a Mass-based couple moving to San Diego, Jeff (Kurt Russell) and Amy Taylor (Kathleen Quinlan), they did the opposite in Breakdown, Jonathan Mostow’s fast-paced, fairly clever road trip thriller. Bringing everything they own in an apple-red Jeep (guaranteeing Jeep ads with every filmed off-road maneuver it endures), the Taylors look forward to a fresh start on the other side of the country. They now have little more than ten thousand dollars, some suitcases, and love to their names. Their plans quickly sour after a near-accident with a black pickup truck in the middle of painted-rock nowhere, Utah, and their car breaks down shortly after (pun very much intended). What starts as a mistake and car trouble quickly unfolds into an elaborate kidnapping scheme that seems to involve everyone for miles around. Hopefully, these two Massholes can prove country Utah’s criminal trash wrong and fight their way out.

Breakdown is half-smart, half-dumb, and tensely fun all around. On its surface, deep pans of Utah’s rocky desert engulf this Polo-wearing couple, quickly shaping Jeff into another badass action hero for Kurt Russell to woo in. Want on-road, realistically amateurish car or truck chases? Check. Want to see Russell face legitimately impossible odds and come out barely scathed, as he has countlessly? Also check. Want a bunch of relatively swallowable one-liners laid out every time Russell gains the upper hand? Again, check. In other words, Breakdown’s a cheesy, ’90s trucker thriller that shouldn’t be expected to have much to say; directed by the same guy who tried—but for many, failed—to close out the Terminator franchise with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Breakdown’s brain is primarily stretched to ensure the plot is smarter than most. But there’s more here than meets the rearview.

Jonathan Mostow’s road trip to kidnapping venture also criticizes the socioeconomic bubble rich Massholes have created for themselves, as well as the wide gaps in living between there and other parts of the U.S. Without even showing a single shot of Boston Harbor, Harvard Square, or literally anything else in Massachusetts, the difference is immediately apparent in how the Taylor couple presents themselves. They’re insultingly naive of the dangers beyond Cape Cod’s overpriced yacht clubs and Boston’s many safe, exclusive clubs, trusting whichever strangers come their way and whatever help they claim to offer. No gun, self-defense, or plans in sight. Plus, in their bright-colored dress shirts and bright red Jeep, they stand out like a sore thumb. When they eventually run into an issue in the form of a shady, all-black-wearing cowboy, Earl (M. C. Gainey), the driver of the initial truck they almost ram into, the Taylors get aggressed by Earl at a gas station shortly before closing with a cryptic, “Yeah, I’d assume you aren’t looking for trouble.” Instead of taking the hint that they’re headed into serious peril, they continue on all the way until the titled Breakdown, where they decide the best course of action is… to split up. Though Jeff wakes up enough to go after Amy, it’s already too late. It’s difficult not to agree as Earl says to a now-roughened Jeff, “You gotta be the dumbest motherfucker yet. You think we just picked you out of the clear blue? Shiny new car, Massachusetts plates. It’ll be a week before anyone even misses you. Should’ve got that bumper sticker that goes with that car—rich assholes looking for trouble.” Whether intentional or not, by contrasting some “rich [M]assholes” with the clearly much less financially stable populations of the U.S. as represented by Earl—who are, understandably, angry for their misfortunes whilst other more reckless a-holes live with less consequence and worry—Mostow subtly elaborates on the U.S.’s massive then- and still-current disparities between the wealthy and, well, everyone else.

Thus, there’s a lot more to Breakdown’s open road, trucking, and long treks than CB radios and diner/gas station stops. Combined with a devilishly strategic lead kidnapper in 18-wheeler driver Warren “Redd” Barr (J. T. Walsh), whose slightly more refined poise separates him from Earl beyond their shared standard-of-living anger towards the Taylors to further blur the socioeconomic impact lines, and Breakdown is as much a typical popcorn movie of a ’90s summer as it is a near-silent criticism of the U.S.’s grave class disparities. For Kurt Russell fans, road-trip action lovers, Jonathan Mostow action followers, and anybody looking for an effective cinematic balance between social critique and car crashes, Breakdown’s an engine roaring pick.

Screens in 35 mm Monday, 6/22, 6:45 p.m. @ Somerville Theatre
Double feature w/ Flightplan
Part of the ongoing double feature repertory series: Kurt & Jodie