Review of A Perfect Getaway (2009) by Beau D — 13 Jul 2010

A newly wed couple (Steve Zahn & Milla Jovovich) on vacation in Hawaii learns that a psychopathic couple is murdering tourists on one of the islands. As they set off onto a trail to find some nice scenary, they run into a couple (Timothy Olyphant & Kiele Sanchez) whom accompanies them on the trail. Could this couple actually be the psychopaths?!?! or just another couple??? Thats the basic premise of The Perfect Getaway.

This is really an interesting film because it almost seems as the writer's and director's knew how ridiculous this film actually was when they were making it. The film is loaded with really odd references. One of the newly wed's is a screenwriter for example, so there are stretches of dialogue all about screenwriting and structure. Its really odd and almost self-aware. As the two couple's learn about the potential psychopaths, there are multiple references to Natural Born Killers and other almost random references. What is so interesting though, its it may just be all intentional and maybe the writer's were more interested in writing a Farce. Then again I might be giving them way too much credit. Perhaps the reason they weren't taking it so seriously has to do with a big twist towards the end of the film which really is laughable at best.

Without giving anything away, its one of those twists that is completely unmotivated and out of left field. I personally think the best twists are the ones that could be figured out, if you pay very close attention to earlier details, but none of those are present in the slightest. Its just feels like the writers were like, "OH, this would be a crazy way to change things up!".

Anyway, Timothy Olyphant does do a great job of carrying this film for me. He basically plays some ex-soldier of some sort who comes off as a bit mental and spends most of his time talking about all his crazy stories. Its a great performance because Olyphant really makes you unsure about his character's intentions but also, he's just so much fun. Also, I do have some problems with David Twohy direction of action scenes. They are edited terribly and confusing. I had the same issues with his previous film, Chronicles of Riddick.

In the end, I cannot deny that I enjoyed the film, enough at least. Its well paced and kept my attention throughout. It has Timothy Olyphant being awesome and goddamn Kiele Sanchez is just the cutest fucking thing. The twist shit just drove me nuts and the very very end involving Milla Jonovich's characters' inner turmoil made no damn sense either. Completely underdeveloped and just tacked on. (If you have seen it, you may know what I am referring too).

OH, and if this all was intentional.. this film is GENIUS!!