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47 out of 60 people found the following review useful: Good thriller. Keeps you guessing., 9 August 2009 Author: jsurisdds from United States
This is a good movie. However, it will probably not get a fair shot by most. The reason is the way the story is structured in which apparently nothing happens in the first 45 minutes. For today's average 18-34 audience this is almost intolerable as they are now conditioned to expect cheap CGI thrills and impossibly huge explosions in the first two minutes of the film (not necessarily a bad thing BTW). What underrated Director/Writer David Towhy is doing is actually putting your brain to work during the first two acts of the movie, all the while enjoying some incredible visuals of the Hawaiian tropical rain forest. Towhy concentrates on subtle character development. The acting is good. Mila Jovovich and Timothy Oliphant are the two that carry the film throughout. All in all I have to say that Towhy put out a fairly plausible story here with none of the CGI generated hyperbole that we see so much of nowadays.
50 out of 70 people found the following review useful: Much better than I expected., 7 August 2009 Author: ValianceInEnd from United States
A Perfect Getaway was nowhere near a perfect film, but it was certainly a good film. The trailers made it out to be a much more non-stop, action thriller than it really was, showing the last 20 minutes. The majority of the film centers around paranoia. It is true though that the plot twist can be seen coming from a mile away, but how it is delivered is where it succeeds. While I personally wasn't surprised, how the twist was presented was quite original and chill-inducing. I'll leave it at that. Where this film really succeeds is in the cinematography and acting, both of which are superb. The locale is beautiful, all the colors are vibrantly displayed and everything looks crisp. There are some scenes with intriguing camera work that works well to add intensity and be intuitive. All the actors really give it their best and create believable characters. Milla was good as usual, but Zahn really surprised me. I never really gave him credit for how good of an actor he is until about now. Overall, it's worth the watch and is ultimately very entertaining with wonderful characters.
32 out of 41 people found the following review useful: Good Thriller with Questionable Twists, 18 August 2009 Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY
Perfect Getaway, A (2009) *** (out of 4)The "old dark house" genre was made famous back in the silent days as we'd get a group of people in one house with the idea that one of them is a killer. That basic idea continues with this film, although instead of a house we're treated the beautiful locations of Hawaii. A newlywed couple (Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich) are on their honeymoon in Hawaii and decide to go on an eleven mile hike. Half way through the hike they learn that another newlywed couple were butchered. The film then has our couple meeting two other couples (Timothy Olyphant/Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth) with the possibility that one of them are the murderers. This 97-minute movie is pure buildup for the final ten minutes when the twist is revealed. I certainly won't reveal the twist but I must say I was somewhat letdown by it but not enough to really enjoy the film. This is the type of movie that gives you a rather simple idea and then works every little inch out of it and in the end we're left with a pretty tense little thriller that is sadly being marketed as a horror movie, which might keep some people away. The film benefits from the great locations, terrific acting and some nice direction. All six leads do a terrific job and it was great seeing someone like Zahn get the leading role. He's basically played supporting roles most of his career but he has no problem carrying the film here. He and Jovovich have great chemistry together and work well with the other cast members. Olyphant clearly steals the film as the ex-soldier who is hiding a few secrets of his own. Another very positive thing about this film is that the majority of it takes place during the daylight so there's nothing jumping out of the shadows at night. I think it's brave to try and build suspense during the day but the director pulls it off perfectly. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio picks up the entire beauty of the island, which really becomes a character all by itself. The film is up for a lot of debate over the twists and turns it takes, which is good. Discussion never hurts a movie and I'm sure people will be discussing what happens here. I personally found it to be a cheat but a lot of thrillers do this. No matter how one feels about the twists there's really no denying that there's still a lot of fun and tension building up to the final moments.
20 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Blatantly Inconsistent, 19 August 2009 Author: chubbuck35 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I would have given this movie 7 or maybe even 8 stars if not for one HUGE inconsistency in the movie: The characters who end up being the killers are completely inconsistent between the 1st and 2nd halves of the movie. For example, they have multiple "secret" conversations with just the two of them trying to "figure out" if one of the other couples could possibly be the murderers. They make comments such as "It really could be them", and imply that they really think a specific couple is the murderers. This is completely inconsistent because if they were alone (and they were the murderers all along) then why would they feel the need to speak like this to each other all by themselves???? It does not reconcile. The only reason was to "trick" (or basically, lie) to the audience by making them completely different characters half-way through the movie, and ignoring everything they might have lead us to believe about them up to that point, whether it makes sense or not. I love a good plot twist, but when the writer/director has to lie and make the characters inconsistent like this in order to do so, it really turns me off of the movie.Other than the above, the scenery was unbelievable and makes me want to go to Hawaii very badly, and I thought the acting was terrific.
21 out of 32 people found the following review useful: A Solid and Quick Moving B-Picture, 7 August 2009 Author: MovieDude1893 (moviedude1893@gmail.com) from Illinios, America
A Perfect Getaway {dir. David Twohy,2009}**½/****A solid, fast paced B-thriller with winking (and surprising) sense of humor, A Perfect Getaway is not as much of a stiff genre exercise as the ads may make it seem. It is true, there is a final twist, but it falls in line with the rest of the film: a slightly off-kilter, audacious, but entertaining endnote. As an exercise of set up and payoff, both halves of the film work fairly well on their own terms, but I cannot help but wish that the first half had a bit more palpable Hitchcockian tension and suspense instead of "Scream"-like rib nudging . Nevertheless, this is involving enough and thrilling enough to be worth at least the price of a matinée, providing that your willing to suspend your proverbial disbelief.
19 out of 31 people found the following review useful: "Let's add a twist... Because we can!", 24 August 2009 Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois
Ah, thrillers, the genre that can either hit or miss, because of it's wonderful "twist" endings. Now when I saw the trailer for A Perfect Getaway, I have to admit that I was intrigued, the advertisement said that it had a great twist ending, and for fun my boyfriend and I always like to go to these movies and try to see who can guess what the ending is, whoever guesses first and correctly will buy dinner, lol. So I happened to be right on this one, well, we both did, we pretty much figured out from the beginning, even though the director was trying to be "sly" about the whole thing, but never since The Perfect Stranger with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis, have I seen such a pathetic twist ending. This is one of those movies that is the "let's have a twist ending because we can" while I would have been perfectly happy if this was just an average thriller/horror movie. Instead we don't get the best from the actors and a very silly movie.A young couple, Cliff and Cydney are celebrating their honeymoon by hiking to a remote beach in Hawaii. The couple comes across two hitchhikers, Cleo and Kale, and a group of frightened hikers discussing a double murder in Honolulu of another newlywed couple on the island, with the victims having their teeth pulled out, and they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with another couple, Nick, who claims to have a titanium plate in his head and be a former special forces operative, and his longtime girlfriend, Gina, a former butcher. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. They later see Cleo and Kale getting arrested under the suspicion of murder. Gina and Cydney reveal that each thought that the others were the killers, and the group continues to the beach. Even though everything seems to be in the clear, things are not always as they seem.A Perfect Getaway is seriously a ridicules movie that made no sense whatsoever, even with the ending being that Cliff and Cydney are the killers, why the heck in the beginning when we, the audience, are trying to figure out who the killers are, we get friggin' obvious Bonnie and Clyde type of girl and guy who are not too subtle on the "we are the killers" look. So it's like pointing out the typical creepy janitor in horror movies, you know that they're not the killers and then you have Cliff and Cydney who are talking about the other couple being the killers and it makes no sense. In fact neither does this paragraph, this movie has me so confused, lol. But point being, A Perfect Getaway was a waste of time and money. I strongly recommend you stay away form it, it was pretty lame.2/10
8 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Nice, but with disturbing character inconsistency, 21 October 2009 Author: judecas from Slovakia
First the pros - 99% of the movie was shot in daylight in the beautiful Hawaiian nature, really relaxing to the eyes. Good cast, good acting overall. Interesting story, which actually pulled my attention and made me watch the movie. The promised twist was there and was a big one, but more about it in cons... Cons - Well, the promised "twist" was a huge and unexpected one. So unexpected it was really difficult to believe. It made me wondering like "Wow, wait a minute! Weren't they doing this and this a few minutes ago? Didn't they tell this and this? Ehmmm.... they actually did, so what the...?" The script wasn't really finished (well) IMHO, it made me feel like the story was born during writing the script, but after finishing it there was no time/will to rework the beginning and synchronize it with the end. This made the lead characters really inconsistent and left me quiet unsatisfied after the movie ended, even if I have to say the final action sequence was good enough.
10 out of 15 people found the following review useful: "Twist" ending a slap in the face to anyone intelligent, 28 October 2009 Author: dalxray from halifax, nova scotia
First of all, I can't believe SO many people are rating this film so highly as a great thriller when the first half of the movie is deliberately false. Remember people, it's only a good twist if it does not violate the internal logic of the film! If you spent the time to read a murder mystery and the murderer turned out to be some guy that wasn't introduced until the last page, would you be feel satisfied, or ripped-off? Unfortunately you can see the twist coming a mile away but frankly I didn't want to believe the talented David Twohey would stoop so low. Basically the first half shows numerous scenes with the Zahn/Jovovich couple wondering (to themselves) who the murderers are. Unless you are outright lying to the audience, denying them the chance to figure it out, these scenes clearly establish that Zahn/Jovovich are not the killers. Then comes the "twist" - they are in fact the killers and the filmmakers have been lying to you. Absolutely idiotic and a slap in the face to anyone who appreciates a well-crafted movie. I'd rate this lower but for the good performances of the principal actors, especially Oliphant. Rewatch "The Usual Suspects" instead.
10 out of 15 people found the following review useful: The Perfect Wasteaway, 9 August 2009 Author: Jonny_Numb from Hellfudge, Pennsylvania
David Twohy has been associated with some rather notable films, from "The Fugitive" (regarded as one of the best thrillers of the '90s) to well-regarded sci-fi like "The Arrival" and "Pitch Black." In "A Perfect Getaway," he threads his script (which he also directed) with a self-referential attitude toward the craft of screen writing (a heavy-handed nod to the "Scream" trilogy) that is immediately problematic, since, well...this movie exemplifies everything that is WRONG with the modern thriller. From the generic title to the egregious miscasting to the sloppy pacing and awkward transitions, "Getaway" has more in common with a made-for-cable production, circa 1993. Odd couple Steve Zahn (he's a budding Hollywood screenwriter!) and Milla Jovovich (she's a smiling bubblehead!) are celebrating their honeymoon in Hawaii, just as a string of murders are sweeping the island (gasp!); once there, they run afoul two Creepy Hitchhikers (one played by "Grindhouse"'s Marley Shelton) and another young couple played by Timothy Olyphant (he's a creepy war vet with a titanium plate in his head!) and Kiele Sanchez (she smokes dope and guts wild goats!). As a result of Twohy's self-referential gimmickry, "Getaway" consistently defuses its own scant thrills, and fails to muster much suspense; as it goes for Hitchcock with its character-based story machinations (even incorporating an anvil-subtle sense of macabre humor), the director all but admits his desperation in the last act, when a peppermint-tinged flashback sequence (that anticlimactically goes on for far too long) abandons motive and character to whomp the viewer over the head with a succession of increasingly pathetic "twists." While Twohy's script does them absolutely no favors, the cast is simply incapable of elevating the material, in no small part because the performers themselves are so disparate: Zahn, best known for his comedic persona, does well in the film's first half, but when asked to go "dark," becomes a laughable portrait of evil; Jovovich, known mostly for action roles, fails as the starry-eyed suburban naif, but succeeds as a rugged ass-kicker; and Olyphant, a character actor with a spotty track record, is unconvincing as a Forrest Gump-like simpleton nattering away about "screenplay writers." Since the mystery at its core is of little interest (and even less once revealed), "A Perfect Getaway" leaves the viewer plenty of time to ponder how a thriller this pedestrian and trite was deemed worthy of a release by a major studio, even in the midst of one of the worst cinematic summers in recent memory. (Wait, I think I get it now...)
42 out of 79 people found the following review useful: Finally a decent flick, 4 August 2009 Author: vyasadhish from United States
The movie is a thriller, drama, and comedy all in one. Yes the first half was dragging but Timothy Olyphant did an amazing job portraying his character. Steve Zahn and Mila were great and the other two were completely wasted in the movie. Didn't expect the movie to turn out the way it did, but when i think about the movie in its entirety it was definitely worth the watch.Basically I wasn't upset I saw this movie in the theaters and also I wasn't bored at all. So I would recommend this movie to all my friends I don't care if they watch it at home or in the theaters it won't matter.
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