As is always the case when we watch a well-made film, we feel the better for it and are uplifted by the artistry involved—but in the case of the tense and tightly spun bank heist thriller “Breaking,” there’s a one-two gut punch of sadness accompanying the experience. Because this is the true story of a Marine veteran who reached the breaking point after the Department of Veterans Affairs failed him, and it’s also a posthumous film in the career of the brilliant Michael Kenneth Williams, who died last September at the age of 54.
Williams delivers another in a series of great performances in a supporting role, but the weight of the film rests on the shoulders of John Boyega, who alternates between moments of heartbreakingly quiet introspection, and startling fits of anger and rage as Brian Brown-Easley, who in January of 2017 walked into a Wells Fargo Bank in Marietta, Georgia, withdrew $25 from his sparse bank account and then handed the teller a note saying, “I have a bomb.”
