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Breakdown (1997)
Breakdown (1997) poster

Breakdown (1997)

Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Action, Drama • 1h 33m

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Cast: Kurt Russell, J. T. Walsh, Kathleen Quinlan, M.C. Gainey, Jack Noseworthy, Rex Linn, Ritch Brinkley, Moira Sinise, Kim Robillard, Thomas Kopache, Jack McGee, Vincent Berry, Helen Duffy, Ancel Cook, Gene Hartline, Steve Waddington, Rick Sanders, Alitzah, Rick Zieff

Turbine 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 5 months ago

Video notes:

Turbine 4K Blu-ray has the better encode. Paramount 4K Blu-ray is disappointing review. But both have DNR?

UHD tiers

Solid
Turbine:

German Import

Overview

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker -- who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.

Release details

Length
93 mins
Type
Movie

More from Jonathan Mostow

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Director: Jonathan Mostow

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony International Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> WB US Blu-ray (better encoding on the Sony disc, missing a commentary from the WB)

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Additional Info:

Warner Bros Blu-ray has an exclusive commentary

Director: Jonathan Mostow

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray or StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

Universal has burnt-in English subs for Germany dialogue, slightly different HDR and color grading to the StudioCanal.

More from Turbine

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Directors: Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic

Best English-Friendly:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2D version: Universal 4K Blu-ray

3D version: Turbine Germany 3D Blu-ray

Best Audio:

-

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has a superior MPEG-4 AVC encode over the US Sony Blu-ray's MPEG-2 or France/Australia Universal Blu-ray's VC-1. Open matte version also included

Best Audio:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has a Dolby Atmos remix and the original audio in DTS 5.1.

Korea Blu-ray for lossless original 5.1 audio mix.

Additional Info:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray is completely uncut and uncensored, having none of Sony US's PG-13 edits or Pathé UK's BBFC horse trip cuts.

Director: Zhang Yimou

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has no DNR or sharpening from past releases

Best Audio:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray for the Dolby Atmos remix on the director's cut and the original 5.1 mix on the theatrical cut

Korea Nova Media Blu-ray for the original 6.1 mix on the director's cut

Additional Info:

Germany Turbine Mediabook Blu-ray has the Hong Kong English subtitles instead of the censored Miramax subtitles.

Miramax Blu-ray has lossy Mandarin audio and does not have the director's cut.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Turbine Germany Blu-ray, WB DVD(?)

Director: Peter Jackson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased for many years, will come out once Turbine's exclusivity rights expire

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Director: Tony Scott

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine Blu-ray or Australia Imprint Blu-ray?

Director: Jeff Rowe

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Paramount 4K Blu-ray (OOP Steelbook Edition for included Blu-ray)

3D version: Turbine Germany 3D Blu-ray

Best Audio:

-

Director: Rob Cohen

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Germany Turbine 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> US Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

comparison between the Turbine and Kino grades. The former is director-supervised.

Best Audio:

(The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray DTS HD5.1 seems to have stronger bass, but it's yet unclear which one has the original 5.1) Also see thread.

Additional Info:

The Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray was recalled shortly after inital releases for unknown reasons.

Director: David Twohy

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Turbine 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Original 5.1 is included on the Arrow 4K Blu-ray and the Old Universal Blu-ray

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Decal US 4K Blu-ray (Dolby Vision on the Germany 4K Blu-ray)

More Crime on Blu-ray

Director: Joel Coen

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)

Director: Iain Softley

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH

Best Audio:

88 Films 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.

Director: John Woo

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray?

Director: Tsui Hark

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray?

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Disk Kino/WCL China import

review: Disk Kino

Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow

Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono

TV series

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative for all episodes

Director: Lloyd Bacon

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Video Notes:

4K restoration from Original Camera Negative

Director: Ralph Bakshi

Best English-Friendly & Video:

OOP Germany Ascot Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Tentative alternative is US Xenon DVD

Director: Roman Polanski

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

2011/2025 WB Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

2011/2025 WB Blu-ray for correct audio (2010 release has audio issue)

Director: Rose Glass

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best Video & Audio:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray 

Video Notes:

Markedly better encoding on Plaion than A24 and without any low-pass filtering

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Researched and maintained by

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· last reviewed 5 months ago

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