Ugly and inert, Break strives for grindhouse thrills but lacks the verve and style that made those films so beloved, and is neither sincere nor intelligent enough to develop into anything more.

Break contains all the elements you'd expect from a hard-boiled Quentin Tarantino knockoff: the complicated hit men, the fetishes, the blood baths, not to mention the presence of Michael Madsen and David Carradine.

What's most stunning about Break, beyond its pitifully amateurish production values and badly choreographed fight sequences, is that it actually has name actors in it.

Only Madsen walks away from Break with his reputation unscathed, and this is if only because he's already something of a B-movie kingpin.