A Perfect Getaway was written and directed by David Twohy. In this movie he brings us  the story of a newlywed couple on their honeymoon in Hawaii, trying to figure out if any of the couples around them are murderers.

Now I have a fairly strict “no spoiler” policy in my reviews, but there is no way to properly review this film without talking about the fact that there is a “twist” in the story. I won’t say what that twist is but there is one.

Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are a newlywed couple – we see a few scenes videotaped from their wedding reception and of their friends wishing them well before they leave for Hawaii. They’re young and full of the promise of a life together. There is enough film and story to fall in love with them and their ideals along with feel as though you are actually experiencing the joy and anticipation with them.

They decide to take a long hike to one of the most remote and beautiful beaches in the islands. On the road to the start of the trail they run into a creepy young couple (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton) who immediately sets your radar off – the guy gets offended that Cliff and Cydney (I hate stupidly spelled common names) hesitated at giving them a ride and they part company. Later on our intrepid couple runs into Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez), another young but more “adventurous” couple. They decide to team up and continue on the trail together, all the while warey of the other couple they met on the road, suspecting them to be the killers of another young newlywed couple not long ago on a different island.

Of course the question is which couple are the actual murderers, and what happens once they are revealed.

A Perfect Getaway has two very different parts – the lead up to the discovery and what comes after. Up until the reveal, while the film has plenty of moments of tension it’s actually quite funny. Olyphant (from Hitman) steals the show as far as I’m concerned – he was very charming and funny, moreso to movie fans I think because much of the humour between him and Zahn (who plays a budding screenwriter) was sort of winking at the audience. In one scene shortly after Olyphant appears in the film and we don’t know if he might be one of the killers, he mentions to Zahn the introduction of a “red snapper” (actually red herring) into a film to throw off the audience. There are more of these types of little jokes as well as others, and to me they were a pleasant relief from the tension. Some say they were overused, but I chuckled at them.

What wasn’t a surprise was the result of the twist, and frankly I found it quite improbable based on what had come before. I would have preferred a more conventional attempt at making the story “different”.

From the point of the reveal the film shifts gears big time into a non-stop cat and mouse game with plenty of edge of your seat moments, violence and some pretty realistic (but not overly done) gore. So while very different, what came before and after the big reveal was pretty entertaining (although I actually enjoyed the first half of the film more) – but the nature of the twist just seemed false and contrived.

Overall I thought it was pretty good – I particularly enjoyed Olyphant as a character, Zahn is always fun to watch and Kiele Sanchez was gorgeous (the scene in which she first appears is quite… distracting lol).

In conclusion I would say that this movie is well worth a visit to your local Cinema, if nothing more than to kick back and relax over a well constructed thriller!

I rate this Movie… 4/5 Penguins!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 1:47 am and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

(No Ratings Yet)