Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Kick-ass and funny, clever and surprising, this adventure thriller delivers plenty of twists, turns and vistas. For audiences who like to be teased and challenged, this is old school. Hitchcock – the Master of Suspense himself – would have been proud.

A Perfect Getaway suffers a bit from the self-conscious crafting of its suspense, and in having an essentially unlikable couple at its center. But these quibbles pale in comparison to the self-assured way David Twohy’s movie comes together, the terrific performances of its four leads, and its success in keeping its secrets until the very end.

The Kauai setting works extremely well, though the notion of stone-cold killers in that island paradise seriously harshes the mellow.

Acting - Great 4.0

Two couples dominate the proceedings. Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich prove themselves terrific actors, by turns dweeby, irritating and shockingly capable. Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez deliver more homogeneous performances, but are terrific nonetheless as a couple comfortable in their own skins and in the wild.

The third couple are suitably menacing, especially he-man Chris Hemsworth, the future Thor come 2011.

• Olyphant has become one of the best action actors working today. Good guy or bad, he’s got crazy eyes that convey just a bit more commitment than a sane man would bring to a fight. This works especially well here, given that you don’t know if he’s good or evil until the very end.
• Zahn has the rare ability to play meek or macho.
• Jovovich – with her long face and movie star profile – plays callow extremely well, but also has the litheness to play action.

Film - Great 4.0

Writer-Director David Twohy goes perhaps too film-school here, what with red herrings announcing themselves and one of the characters being a screenwriter. Yet the Hitchcockian story is plenty surprising, full of carefully crafted suspense, MacGuffins (e.g., the web image of the killers hanging just out of reach), ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, mistaken identity and likable criminals. Twohy should have given himself a cameo to make his homage complete.

Edge - Risqué 2.1

The violence is suitably raw and visceral, never more so than when a sympathetic heroine has to pull a knife out of her thigh. Ouch.

Reality - Glib 1.5

The Hawaiians are understandably upset that this movie will create a paranoid vibe in their land of Hoaloha. Let’s hope that doesn’t come to pass.

As it happens, my wife and I honeymooned exactly where the movie is set. We stayed in Hanelei Bay (shown in the early part of the movie), got shave ice from the vendor pictured, skinny dipped at Lumahai Beach (where the scary couple asked to be dropped off), and planned a three day hike along the Kalalau Trail. Heavy rains cut our Kalalau adventure down to just a day hike, which I don’t remember as being at all scary. No steep drops, no madmen, no dweebs. Just mellow paradise.

2 Comments

• Wick Jan 17, 2010 3:07PM

  Regarding izzio’s Review
  Happy to see Perfect Getaway get another fan Iz. It ended up being kind of a sleeper.

• Wick Aug 10, 2009 1:34PM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Yeah, I think you’ll like it. Judging by the trailers they ran before it, they seem to be targeting the horror audience.

• Feed
• Movies
• ViewLists
• NewOnDemand