Escapada perfecta

Newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are honeymooning in Hawaii when they decide to hike a popular trail through the lush Hawaiian wilderness. Halfway into their hike, the two learn about the slaying of another newlywed couple on one of the neighboring islands. The killers? A man and woman. Soon after, they encounter another couple on the trail, Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and his girlfriend, Gina (Kiele Sanchez). The four continue on the trail as a group, but it isn't long before Cliff and Cydney begin to suspect their new acquaintances of being the killers. There's also the shady hitchhikers, Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton, looking particularly nice with braided hair), who seem to be following them.

While I was able to correctly guess the identity of the killer's just from watching the trailer, I still had a great time with this. The performances are really strong. I've heard others say that Zahn and Jovovich aren't a believable pairing. I've seen several instances of stunning women with less attractive guys, so that's nonsense. Aside from that, they're terrific together. This is a dialogue-heavy film with several amusing character moments thrown in, all of which the actors nail. Olyphant is the standout as Nick, a former marine with a bit of a screw loose. The humor actually works, the quirkiness adding to the picture. I also thought that the B&W exposition scene was well-done, better than most of it's ilk. These types of scenes are generally frowned upon, but here it winds up being a highlight.

The Puerto Rican locations (subbing for Hawaii) are quite lovely, though the dangers of the trail aren't played up as much as I'd expected. It isn't an element that's necessarily needed, however, as I found the film to be plenty suspenseful as is. The killers were obvious to me, yes, but the I was more caught up in the situations than the reveal. For instance, the situation of the reveal made for a terrific moment. It's all in how it's done. While I could have done without the annoying screenwriter in-jokes, they don't ruin the suspense either.

I'd say that director David Twohy has more hits than misses, and this clever slice of pulpy entertainment continues that trend.

Unfortunately I had seen a spoiler review, by accident, prior to watching this, which did diminish some of the suspense in this film for me. However, in retrospect, I don't understand many reviewer's comments about the two halves of the film (before the murderers are revealed) and them not acting in accordance with knowing they did it. I didn't see that at all, and they were clearly concerned about people knowing they did it. What did confuse me, however, was WHY they were doing what they did, and whilst there were clues, some aspects were not given and to me they were the ones that I was questioning! I was surprised at the film having seen the trailers as they seemed quite (cleverly) misleading. It is, all told, a suspenseful film in that you don't know how the nefarious pair will be caught and how many/who will survive. Though in saying that it is a little bit Hollywood and largely predictable and the twists were seen coming a mile away. Perhaps I can say that with hindsight given that I did know some plot points ahead of time but even so, to me it was obvious anyway. I guessed quite a few things and was glad how it ended up.

Hawaiian born, Timothy Olyphant was just superb, believable and constant, and convincingly teamed with Kiele Sanchez who was feisty and super-cool. I've liked everything I've seen Steve Zahn do and this was no exception, I think it showed him as a brilliant actor to be so varied, chameleon-like and in such an action role where he is usually associated with geeky characters (love him in Reality Bites). Mila Jovovich was also great - in fact all the actors were well formed, interesting and generally believable making for a good ensemble cast in a gripping action thriller. I'd have liked to have seen more of the Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton couple.

The SFX people did a good job with all the bloody wounds, mutilations and injuries, they were very impressive and I became quite squeamish at a few. I thought it was wonderful to see the calm, beauty and grandeur of Hawaii as a backdrop for quite an ugly story. Whilst I didn't quite get a motivation for all the misdeeds that went on, it was still a very good watch and the script was clever, witty (making fun of typical action film blunders, I just thought something like "he'd have run out of bullets" and the guy goes and says, "I should have been counting my bullets" etc) and intelligent. A film is always getting an extra point for referencing Cool Hand Luke!!

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.

Cliff and Cydney are an adventurous young couple celebrating their honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking the wild, secluded trails, they believe they've found paradise. But when the pair comes across a group of frightened hikers discussing the horrifying murder of another newlywed couple on the islands, they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples, and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. Paradise becomes hell on earth as a brutal battle for survival begins… --© Universal

A PERFECT GETAWAY is one of the more genuinely smarter thrillers I've seen in quite awhile. It has a clever script in the same vein as SCREAM written by David Twohy, who's also the director. You have characters that are self aware of things called "red herrings" and "twists," almost as if they are breaking the fourth wall, not to mention one of our characters is a screenwriter. And, to top it off, the film does not rely on cheap, gimmicky action sequences and CGI to keep things interesting. It's truly a first-rate thriller.

But I'm sad to say the film is not for everyone. To some, nothing really happens in the first two acts of the film. To me, I was so interested in the character development and the discussions the characters were having. The first two acts is all build up to an explosive third act where director Twohy pulls all the stops. If you're willing to sit and pay attention in the talky scenes, you'll be rewarded. Pay no attention at all, and you'll be missing a lot of crucial information that ties into a plot twist.

Speaking of twists, the surprise twist in here is, I'll admit, not that surprising. However, it's executed really well. And I'm sure some people will be put off by the twist because how it cheats. I'm here to say it doesn't. Like Roger Ebert said, it only seems to. The script is written in a way that the plot is tight and that there aren't any contradicting scenes that will bring the story down. It's as if Twohy found all the loose ends and fixed them up until there were no plot holes at all.

I enjoyed the performances a lot. Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich play characters in which I would love to hang out with. Zahn is as great as always in the geeky role. Jovovich also pulls off a convincing performance as the sympathetic, free-loving wife. Timothy Olyphant also does a terrific job making his character likable yet suspicious. Kiele Sanchez is great as his girlfriend. Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton play another couple, although I felt they were underused.

In the end, the film is a perfectly fine thriller that makes you guess and second guess yourself. The film truly benefits from Twohy's extremely clever script and great direction. I also liked the score by Boris Elkis and the beautiful cinematography. If you like thrillers, give this a watch. You won't regret stopping for this getaway. I'm sorry. I just had to do it.

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.