A PERFECT GETAWAY
US, 2009, 91 minutes, Colour.
Timothy Olyphant, Steve Zahn, Mila Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez, Chris Hemsworth, Marley Shelton.
Directed by David Twohey.
Advertised like Turistas, The Ruins and other slasher horror films, A Perfect Getaway is a thriller designed more for an older audience than teenage horror fans.
The impact of A Perfect Getaway depends on some sleights of hand by the writer-director, David Twohey, making his audience look one way while they could have been looking another way. This provides a satisfyingly surprising twist, although movie buffs may well anticipate what it is. And that doesn't really matter all that much because they will be wanting to have the satisfaction of being proven right rather than wrong in what they are guessing.
The film opens with home video footage of a happy wedding reception and moves to Hawaii (looking quite spectacular) with Cliff and Cydney on a helicopter flight to remote cliffs and beaches on an outer island. They encounter two couples, one wanting to hitch-hike but surly in manner whom they leave behind. Then they meet Nick, who talks incessantly about his tough experiences in Iraq, and his girlfriend, Gina, who shows some efficient abattoir techniques when Nick kills a local mountain goat for their food.
Then they get news that a honeymoon couple has been murdered in Honolulu.
Suspicions become rampant. The rest of the film has the expected menace and pursuit by the murderers.
The film has the advantage of attractive location photography (Puerto Rico as well as Hawaii), some sharp dialogue (which is seen to be even cleverer by the end) and good performances by Steve Zahn (a bespectacled screenwriter) and Milla Jovovich (exuberant) as Cliff and Cydney. Timothy Olyphant has been in a lot of films as a sinister character and he does it well as Nick. Kiele Sanchez is Gina.
While there is blood at the end, the film is not a slasher show but rather a sometimes tingly and creepy thriller for adults.
1. The title? The scenes of the marriage? Honeymoon? The beautiful Hawaii locations? Mountains and beaches? For the couples during the trek? And the ironic twist at the end with the different meaning of ‘getaway’?
2. The writer and his screenplay, an exercise in misdirection, leading to the twist? Audiences anticipating this or not?
3. The beauty of Hawaii, an exotic setting for a thriller?
4. The opening, the wedding, speeches and photos, the role of Cliff, of Cydney? The home movies?
5. The initial impression of Cliff and Cydney, bespectacled, the screenwriter? Cydney and her excitement, romantic? In the helicopter, Cliff pretending to
be a daredevil? Landing, getting the certificates and permits, the drive, the encounter with the young couple, her eagerness and chatter, photos, his surliness? Leaving them behind? The later meeting up with them, his being aggressive? Cliff and his lies to protect himself and Cydney?
6. The trek, the excitement, leaving his permits behind, later meeting the man from the office?
7. Meeting Nick, talkative, Iraq experiences, his interest in filmmaking and film writing, getting the terminology wrong, talking about story, plot, and observations about their experience? Being with Gina? On the trek, the hunting the goat and his success, her abattoir experience?
8. The information about the murders, the headlines, audiences apprehensive about Cliff and Cydney, their safety? In many ways, a timid couple? The interactions with Nick and Gina? Friendly? The police, arresting the young couple, audiences thinking they were the murderers?
9. Cliff taking Nick out and the canoe, enjoying the trip, in the cave?
10. Gina, on the beach, looking at the camera, at the pictures, her horror, running to save Nick, calling out, his ignoring her, Cydney in pursuit, her seeing Cliff shoot Nick?
11. The pursuit of Gina, Cydney after her, Cliff climbing the cliff, attempting to shoot?
12. The two women fighting, Gina and her escape, the helicopter on the beach, Cydney being rescued, Nick and his recovery, the clash with Cliff, the fight, the police and the helicopter, Cydney giving the information, about to kill Nick, Gina arriving, the police shooting Cliff? Cydney and her telling the police that Cliff had ruined her life?
13. The flashbacks and the revelation of the truth, the blue tones pervading, the editing of the bits, the cumulative effect of the revelations?
14. A satisfying thriller with twists? The irony of the screenplay in the first half of the film, giving clues, the audience not picking them up as clues?
