Getaway

A late night car chase through the cosmopolitan streets of Sofia, Bulgaria; throbbing with that distinct and exotic coolness European cities exude when darkness falls... it's an idea that could have been executed very well. Unfortunately not in the case of Getaway, which instead slaughters the idea so poorly you can't help but feel sorry for it. 

Everyone loves a good car chase. You won't find one in Getaway though. All the chase scenes are nothing more than a nauseating rapid succession of very brief cuts. It's literally   impossible to get a wider picture and understanding of what is going. Many scenes could have been quite impressive if they had just been shot at a wider angle and held a longer frame. This does not happen once though. The breakneck speed at which the cuts are made (close up of car headlights-exploding box-back wheel-driver-back to headlights) just doesn't allow the chase to flow and is frustrating to watch. How can one appreciate what's happening when they can't even see what's happening?

Selena Gomez may be trying to break out of her Disney image (and good for her) but that doesn't mean she's suited to every role. Her performance here feels weak and definitely isn't helped by an even weaker dialogue. Ethan Hawke's performance is more believable, but it's only one taste bud of sweetness in the overall bad taste this movie leaves. 

There's pretty much zero laughs, the first half is filled with the characters bickering annoyingly, the chase scenes are visually unwatchable, it's painfully unnecessarily noisy and the plot is nothing but mediocre. 

Fortunately I viewed the film at an advance screening and therefore given it was free I just felt disappointed, rather than feeling ripped off as I would have had I actually handed over my hard earned dollars in exchange for that mess. I tried my best to enjoy the film, but to be honest all I wanted to do was getaway.

This story is a poor excuse for a high speed car ride. The plot does not make much sense, and is not believable. Selena Gomez's character is annoying.

This might not be fun in the traditional sense, but it does have its moments. Especially when it doesn't know it's being funny. Not a compliment, but casting Selena Gomez as your lead, you should know what you are letting yourself into. But it would be unfair to load everything on her thin shoulders.

Ethan Hawke on the other hand, a very fine actor, cannot save this movie either. What might make this fairly interesting, is the fact that it does keep up its pace from beginning to end. And one particular chase scene, that goes POV (of the car), which is really phenomenal! Almost too good to be in a movie like this. A movie that has tension and a fast pace, both of which distract from the fact that nothing makes sense

I will be the "other side" of the reviews, as i will be honest , I saw it for free... I would probably be mildly disappointed if i had payed $15... it's a "red box" movie ...worth a couple of bucks . but it wasn't that bad --like "Frankenstein theory" or other REALLY bad films lately-- If you saw "vanishing Point", this is better ,by far than that one .

In a nutshell , Getaway is , or could be called "A Lot of Cops Crashing"

Yes it is a thin plot , yes it has bad writing ,and although overall, it is highly polished, some of the camera work seems to be shot by a 9th grade A/V student,and some is crazy good, there is one shot towards the end that -for me- was incredible camera work .... it is a grill cam shot from the second car car , it is one continuous shot that winds you through traffic like you are riding a street luge, it is a clean crisp long -no scene splits- camera shot that I just loved ,

Although predictable , this film is full of action, well , car chases, Im a car nut so , who cares about Oscars when you get to thrash a highly built mustang ... it's no "shawshank" but it gets at least a five ---6.5 , from me , great action , no slow plot development , and the ending is great if not just a little predictable ....its just popcorn fun ...yes, it was fun ..dont listen to the other critics if you like any of this . I hate slow crappy movies , this is not one of those .... when i am bored , I will watch this again

'GETAWAY': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

B car-chase movie starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez. Hawke plays an ex-race-car driver who's forced to bend to the will of a madman in order to rescue his kidnapped wife. He finds help from a young girl (Gomez) who knows a lot about computers and is the owner of the stolen car he's driving. The movie co-stars Jon Voight as the voice of the 'madman' and was directed by Courtney Solomon (who also directed the B movies 'DUNGEONS & DRAGONS' and 'AN American HAUNTING'). The film was written by first time feature film writers Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker. It's already well known as a painfully bad movie but in my opinion it's not that bad.

Hawke stars as Brent Magna, a former race-car driver who's wife (Rebecca Budig) is kidnapped by an unknown man (Voight). The man tells Magna he must steal a car, a Shelby Mustang Super Snake, from a parking garage and do whatever he says (in it) or his wife will be killed. Magna is forced to drive around like a madman, endangering innocent bystanders, while constantly evading capture by cops. When the owner of the mustang (Gomez) shows up attempting to take her car back Magna is forced to take her along with him. Her computer skills become useful as the two try to outwit this crazy man, holding them all captive, and end his crazy games.

The movie is a pretty routine car-chase action flick but it delivers what it promises. It has a decent amount of thrilling and spectacular action scenes and is pretty fast paced. The story is pretty dumb and the character development is ridiculous but people don't usually go to see movies like this for things like that. If not for the casting of Hawke, Gomez and Voight this movie probably would have been a direct to video release where it could have been a little more respected for what it is instead of failing to meet unusually high expectations. The movie is a bad B movie but it's still kind of fun (at least in places). I like Hawke as a leading man and Voight makes a good sinister villain (even if you only ever see his mouth and hear his voice). Gomez is cute but she still doesn't seem to have any acting skills and her character is pretty annoying in this. The movie is what it is and if you know what you're getting into it shouldn't be that much of a letdown.

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