Five long years pass as Jack’s children grow up without their father. Their mother resents Jack for putting his cause ahead of his family, but a recent compromise offer from the logging company will get Jack out of jail in a few weeks if he agrees to assist them. Meanwhile, his children are embarking on a camping trip with Chuck, a friend of the family, but his daughter Jen (Holly Deveaux) really doesn’t want to go, despite her younger brother, Mikey’s (Christian Martyn) anticipation.
Unfortunately for the campers, brothers Kenny (Ethan Suplee) (The Butterfly Effect) and Tommy (Dominic Purcell, Prison Break) are headed to the same area for what promises to be a blissful summer fishing and relaxing. Tommy has recently been released from prison and he has checked his brother, Kenny, out from his group home, as Kenny apparently suffered some sort of brain injury when he was younger and is a bit slow as a result. It's clear from the outset that Tommy is quite violent and unstable and when things don't go as planned with the cabin, he takes the cabin's owner out to the woods and murders him. Jen and Mikey are canoeing down river at just this moment and Mikey witnesses the murder, so the two race back to their campsite, fearing the killers may have seen them. Naturally, Tommy finds the group and the children run away on Chuck's instruction, but are literally helpless babes in the woods. Jen drops her cell phone and it is picked up by Kenny, who answers when Jen's mom calls. He believes he is speaking to his own dead mother and while this terrifies Jen's mother, she soon realizes that Kenny doesn't want the children hurt and she may be able to use this connection to save her children. Even though Jack will soon be released from prison, it isn't quick enough, so the pair cooks up a plan of escape while Jack has work detail on a logging crew near the camping site. The rest of the film is Jack’s fearless and frantic fight to locate his children and stop the men trying to kill them.
While the film does have some tense moments, it wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be, based on the trailer. I had a really hard time seeing Brendan Fraser at the beginning of the film with his ratty, shoulder-length hair. He’s not Encino Man anymore and he just looked funny. Aside from that, his acting was pretty good, but Ethan Suplee stole the show as the sweet, frightened and benign Kenny. Dominic Purcell was just brutal, but effective in his role.
Overall, Breakout is okay, but it's just not a great film. There are no special features and it simply wasn't the thrill ride I was hoping for. Also, I think the environmental angle just felt a little scripted and out of place, at least the parts where they were simply discussing it. Overall, I wasn't a fan.
