It’s a perfectly adequate thriller in its own right, but everything about A Perfect Getaway screams direct-to-DVD: the genre, the cast, the plotting, the budget.
An hour into the film I wondered why this routine – if well-crafted – genre film was released theatrically; a second-act twist attempts to rectify this, but we’re still left wanting. In this age of the Hollywood blockbuster, it just feels so damn slight; though that, in its own way, can be refreshing.
Go in with reasonable expectations (and avoid the trailers and most reviews – including the rest of this one – which probably reveal too much) and you should enjoy A Perfect Getaway; catch it on TV late at night and I daresay you’ll like it more.
You see, generic B-movie thrillers are not necessarily bad; it’s just we rarely have talent working behind them these days. Director David Twohy usually skews toward sci-fi (The Arrival, Pitch Black), and his films are consistently – save for his last, The Chronicles of Riddick – well-handled, low-key efforts that play to conventions without pushing any limits. Getaway, despite a genre change, is no different.
Milla Jovovich and Steve Zahn star as Cydney and Cliff, a newlywed couple vacationing in Hawaii. While driving around the island of Kauai, they run into a pair of hitchhikers, Cleo (played by Marley Shelton) and Kale (Chris Hemsworth); Cleo seems nice enough, but the guy sends out creepy vibes. Cydney and Cliff aren’t so sure they should give them a lift. You get the feeling it’s not the last time we’ll see this couple.
Later on, while hiking around the island, Cydney and Cliff run into another American couple: Nick (Timothy Olyphant) is a talkative ex-marine, Gina (Kiele Sanchez) his resourceful girl who can take care of herself. The two couples decide to trek together through Kauai, which provides some gorgeous scenery that cinematographer Mark Plummer doesn’t hesitate to linger on.
But wait – this is a thriller. Before long, we learn that a horrible murder has been committed, and authorities are looking for an American couple. Could it be ? Or ?
Now, Cliff is a screenwriter, and Nick is movie lover; they share some key dialogue early in the film that ends up with Nick asking Cliff if his script has “a good twist at the end of act two.” Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, in typical Scream fashion, and during the rest of the movie we’re trying to guess that twist (note: don’t bother). Nick even mentions “red snappers”, to which Cliff is quick to correct him with “red herrings”. Hmm.
About that twist: it’s pretty interesting, but cutesy and over-explained (“no, see, we weren’t trying to mislead you”) to the point of being pretty senseless. But it’s certainly not enough to make or break the film, and by the time it comes along, well, we’ve had a decent little thriller that knows what it is, and it goes out on the very same notes.
