A Perfect Getaway

A Perfect Getaway

2009

Drama (Thriller)

Rated: R
Running Time: 98 minutes

Starring: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Hemsworth

Directed By: David Twohy

Rating: 4 out of 10

Outline

A newlywed couple vacationing in Hawaii is in the wrong place at the wrong time as someone is murdering tourists there.

Review

We have the movie Hostel to thank for the bevy of movies surrounding vacation murders. It seems the beautiful places of the world are now home to the most sadistic and terrible people on the planet. A Perfect Getaway is the story of Cliff and Cydney. They are on their honeymoon in Hawaii when they hear of a pair of brutal tourist murders not far from where they are. As they hike along a fairly secluded trail, they start meeting up with various hikers all of whom may be the killers.

This film never connected with me and took very predictable plot courses right through its entirety. It was too long of a buildup for an actually pretty decent ending. You are introduced to the honeymooners and they set off on their hike through the tropical landscape. The film actually reminded me of a teen flick even though the key players are decidedly older. The film instead of genuine scares boils down into a who is the killer type of film and it gets tiring. The film inundates you with a host of odd characters letting you decide who the killer might be. Without any sense of normalcy you quickly lose interest in the story. There are characters that give threatening lingering looks. There are characters that are hostile and confrontational. There is your not quite right in the head characters. In fact with so few normal characters in this film it seems Hawaii is the place to be for Crazies (yes intended Timothy Olyphant reference). Hawaii is a vibrant and beautiful location but the story about murder unfolding there was dry and stagnant.

Newlywed Cliff played by Steve Zahn and Cydney played by Milla Jovovich were hard to follow as the leads. Zahn should stick to doing comedy as he has this goofy delivery that is hard to take seriously. Jovovich’s voice for some reason got on my nerves also detracting from her performance. The two of them together are an odd on screen pair and bored me right through the movie.

 Now I don’t want to get into much of the odd assortment of characters as to give a hint as to who the killers may be. What I have already said was the multitude of strange personalities that marches through this film will leave you dizzy. About halfway through I stopped caring about who the killers might be and started rooting for them to go on a rampage and end this film. The supporting cast did a decent job with what they were given to work with. One thing I will point out though was Timothy Olyphant seemed to be channeling Bill Paxton's laugh from Weird Science for most of this film and it was kind of comical.

The film dredges its way from one disappointing encounter to the next. Never scaring or intriguing the viewer in any degree. The film is a painful watch until a great ending scene (I am not saying I agree with the ending only it was done well). The ending has many facets to it which includes interesting camera work and black and white shots. If more creativenesses were used like this for the whole film it might have worked. At the end of the day though the script was below par and the thriller aspect was almost nonexistent. Although to be fair there is one of the worst hand injuries I have ever seen in this film. 

Director David Twohy known most for his alien work in such films as Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick shows he should keep his sights to the skies. This film with its odd cast and even odder characters was off from the start. The story was a mess and besides the ending the film is hardly worth mentioning. Hopefully he will get back on track with his next film.

I cannot recommend this film and while people say this story was genius and shocking I say it was boring and forced. The movie title claims perfection all I saw was below average.

T Factor + If you like stories with many twists and turns this could score higher on the rating scale.

T Factor – If you like lots of frights in your movies this could score lower on the rating scale.

If you liked this film reel recommendations: Kiss the Girls, Turistas