BREAKWATER -- Languid Crime-Thriller Offers Little to Discuss

Review by Daniel Lima

Can we ever truly move past our own mistakes and follies? What does it take to excise our demons? These are questions that Breakwater, the latest languid character drama-turned-thriller featuring Dermot Mulroney, raises and never interrogates in a meaningful way. While the setting offers a glimmer of hope that this might be interesting, it reveals itself to be a rote, plodding, and empty film, more interested in narrative twists than actually being about anything in particular.
 
Darren Mann plays a recently released prisoner who, as a favor to a fellow inmate, breaks parole and crosses state lines in search of a woman who might be his friend's daughter. Doing so sets off a series of events that jeopardizes not only his freedom but the lives of all those he touches as well.
 
Despite that harrowing description, most of the film plays out as a drama, with no overt sense of danger beyond the expectation that there has to be more to the story than what is presented. If there's anything good to be said about Breakwater, it's that it does a decent enough job establishing its setting, the waterlogged coast of North Carolina. There is a sense of history to the small town the film explores, touched by the legacy of slavery and isolated from the bustle of the larger world. With some more fleshing out, the character of the place might have made for a more compelling watch. ​

Sadly, the film is narrowly focused on the drama surrounding the three main characters, to its detriment. Mulroney is the standout, turning in another decent imitation of Mel Gibson with a brusque energy that could quickly turn dangerous. Mann projects the dimwitted charm his role calls for, and Alyssa Goss does her best with a role that feels more like a narrative device than a real person.​

The emotional core is the relationship between Mann and Goss, who the audience is supposed to buy as two people naturally attracted to each other. It never quite takes, with the two lacking even the tiniest spark of chemistry between them. Everything else, from the frequent calls to Mulroney to the laborious investigation led by Mann's parole officer, feels like filler. These annoyances take the film away from the coastline, which is its sole distinct strength.
 
About halfway through, the story takes a turn for the mysterious, revealing certain falsehoods and forcing the main characters to react to shifting circumstances quickly. Very quickly, it becomes clear that the film's primary concern is topping every revelation with a new one. The nature of those revelations gestures towards deeper themes, but they end up being narrative stepping stones. With nothing to cling to emotionally and no reason to care, the film outstays its welcome well before the climax.
 
Breakwater is a hard film to discuss because there's so little to talk about. Where this could have potentially been a slice-of-life crime drama, reveling in the idiosyncrasies of its unique setting, it instead settles into a dull thriller centered on characters it's impossible to feel anything for. If there is anything to commend it for, it's only taking up ninety-seven minutes of the precious time I have on this Earth.

Breakwater is available in theaters and on demand December 22.

Rating: 1/5