Retreat - Nessuna via di fuga

"Retreat" started out as a tight, minimalistic indie thriller, maintained the well written characters, and then added in some intriguing mind games played out beneath the surface. And then it devolved into a blood-fest of science fiction diseases and government conspiracies. I was riveted for the first hour and twenty minutes and then sat agape in frustration for the last ten minutes.

Martin (Cillian Murphy) and Kate (Thandie Newton) are a married couple seeking an isolated retreat. A log house on a remote island which they have been to before but not since their marriage has deteriorated. Kate thinks it is irreparable; Martin thinks he just has to apologize one more time and everything will be perfect. Then an injured soldier arrives at their door and they proceed to take him in.

Before they know it, he has locked them inside the house. Not to kill them, but to save them, or so he says. We're pretty sure he's crazy, husband and wife are pretty sure he's crazy, until sleep-deprived Martin starts falling to his insane argument. Something about there being a disease outside and if you breathe the air around an infected person, you die. Well, you cough up blood and then you die. As I said, we're pretty sure he's crazy, and this is just the type of thing that crazy people say.

The fascinating parts of this film involve the soldier convincing Martin and Kate that the threats are real, Martin seeming to believe him, Kate getting angry, and then Martin just wanting to take care of his wife and save their marriage. The majority of this takes place inside the house with only three characters. Let the mind games begin as each character tries to figure out what they want, how to get it, how to do it alone or with somebody else.

When we approached the end, I was playing along with their game, trying to predict each twist and turn that would take us to the satisfying conclusion. I did not guess correctly as I was not predicting the many twists that each character would take with their final, almost final, maybe final, and then their final final dying breath. If that sounds ridiculous, wait until you hear what was really going on. The ending would suggest that "Retreat" was one of those stupid horror movies built for blood and laughs. This is extremely disappointing because the rest of the movie suggested that it was one of the best indie thrillers around.

I don't understand the bad critics,it is a good movie. I watched it after I read the reviews here and was expecting something worse.I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Retreat. It is a psychological thriller,the acting is very good (Cillian Murphy is a remarkably good actor,but also Jamie Bell and Thandie Newton are a pleasure to watch)and the story kept me guessing until the end. Retreat slightly reminded me of 28 Days Later,but it is a totally different story and captivating in it's own way.I liked the pace and the atmosphere of the film,and I would recommend it to everyone interested in this genre. Retreat definitely deserves better critics and a better rating!

"Retreat" is a three-hander, starring Thandie Newton, Cillian Murphy and Jamie Bell (although there is one other character with a brief speaking part). Kate (Newton) and Martin (Murphy) have gone off to an island retreat to regroup after Kate miscarries; they return to a solitary cottage on a remote island where they had been happy years earlier, thinking it might help their relationship. But Kate is withdrawn and Martin doesn't know what to do, and the whole thing might not have been a very good idea after all. One day, they stumble upon Jack (Bell), an injured military man to whom they are quick to offer shelter. Unfortunately, the generator in the cottage has shorted out, and the CB radio seems not to be working, so when Jack tells them that a fast-moving and lethal air-borne infection has been sweeping the world and the only way to protect themselves from it is to barricade themselves inside the cottage, they have no way of knowing whether he's telling the truth or not. But Jack's decisive (and bullying) behaviour convinces at least Martin that something is going on, and although Kate initially resists and suggests that they just leave the cottage to the "crazy" man, she too is more or less bullied into submission. And it is true that something is going on, but whether they can figure it out in time to save themselves is an open question....

This is writer/director Carl Tibbetts' debut film. I expected it to be a very tense psychological thriller, and to some extent it is, but there are flaws that perhaps a more experienced scriptwriter and director could have smoothed out. Largest among these is the simple fact that if Martin had listened to Kate right after Jack shows up, they wouldn't have gotten into this mess. It's hard to swallow disbelief when some plot points are so, well, silly. This is not to pan the film at all – it's sharp, has some beautiful cinematography (it was filmed in Gwynedd, Wales), and a lot of the twists and turns (especially at the end) are unexpectedly rich. But really the best reason to see this film is for the acting; our three leads are just outstanding, with Thandie Newton's performance serving as the focus that holds the whole film together. Definitely recommended.

Could have been a 7, instead is a solid 6. The twist is impressive, don't believe it has been done before. The 2nd half is much better than the first, I'm glad I stuck with it.

Kate (Thandie Newton) and Martin (Cillian Murphy) go to the isolated Blackholme Island off Scotland to escape London. They were there back in happier times in 2002. They are struggling with marital problems about a miscarriage. The power goes out. Martin is injured while trying to fix the generator. They call Doug for help on the radio but they get no help. Then they find a bloodied unconscious man. The man claims to be Private Jack Corman (Jamie Bell) and that there is a deadly worldwide airborne flu. The couple is suspicious of the erratic Jack.

The trio try their best to make an intense psychological thriller. The main problem is that the movie has one tone and one gear. It's steady and unrelenting. Jack doesn't change. He starts off scary and stays there. It may be more compelling to start off sane and build to crazy. It's intense but it feels like a manufactured thing. It's not realistic that Martin believes anything Jack says. Jack is basically acting like a paranoid mental case. There is nothing to prove his case other than his word. The movie needs to give the audience the permission to believe in Jack but it never does.