A PERFECT GETAWAY (2009)

Written & Directed By: David Twohy
Cinematography By: Mark Plummer
Editor: Tracy Adams

Cast: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Chris Hemsworth, Marley Shelton


This film took me totally by surprise. I thought it would be some run of the mill thriller set in paradise. But as the movie goes along it keeps on surprising you. Keeping up the right amount of foreshadowing and dread. Which keeps you on the edge of your seat. As you wait for what you think is going to happen then something out of left field presents itself, yet works within the story so not to make it seem unbelievable and false or made up. Though it completely changes the situation and maybe what you thought came before it. Not in a corny way or a cop out way. It shows the film is actually well thought out from the beginning to end. It is more complex then you have been lead to believe.

Despite it’s bland direction which actually works, because if it was more flashy it would have been over the top and you would have expected the surprises.

This film would go well with AUDITION as a double feature. Even though Audition is a better film, they are both films which plays by the rules of there genres while also turning those rules on their ear. This is a good B-Movie full of inventiveness and originality. It portrays itself as being this bland thriller, But it get’s more exciting as it goes along.

The cast is perfect especially Timothy Olyphant. They all seem to be playing against type. When I first started watching this film I thought most of the known cast deserve better material then this by the end I could see why they signed on and they all excel in their roles.

The Film seems slow but by the end the violence gets a little extreme but keep in mind I watched The Director’s Cut.

The film should have done better business in theaters It deserves to be discovered on Video/DVD and gain a cult so it gets the respect it deserves. It’s a hidden gem amongst 2009 releases a pleasant surprise.

The film is about a couple on a honeymoon in Hawaii who decide to go camping who have a run in with a hitchhiking couple then read about killers on the loose who killed a couple of newlyweds. They meet another couple who are used to camping goin the same way, But the further they go the more they suspect that the new couple maybe the killers. Plus they keep noticing the hitchhikers seem to be following them. But Why?

The less known about the film the more you will enjoy it. I just rented it because I liked the cast and it got mostly good reviews. None of that prepared me for how much I would enjoy the film. I guess it is a sleeper.

A must see.

GRADE: B+