Review of Getaway (2013) by Ethan H — 22 Nov 2013

Boredom can cause one to do a lot of things for example I decided to view a film that I already had no interest in, but I decided to give it a go with low expectations. The story is about Brent Magna who is a former race car driver and he comes home one day to find his wife Leanne has been kidnapped, and in order to get her back he needs to do exactly as a voice on a phone tells him, which is drive a car really fast and crash into everything.The movie opens with a montage sequence that introduces us to the premise in less than five minutes, and looks like it was shot as the introduction to a T.V. show. The camera never stays still, cutting every three to five seconds. The close-ups and odd camera angles, coupled with the short cuts, come out to look very bad, the whole movie could take place in the same room and up and down the same stretch of road for all we know.

It seems like the whole movie's purpose is to make the audience think it is being wowed, from the story to the way the movie is presented. The cinematography and the editing are designed to work as an afterthought. With the camera angles being tight and the editing quick and choppy at best. When Magna is being chased by cops for driving through a crowded park and destroying an outdoor shopping bazaar, all we see is shaky shots of cars, Magna jerking the wheel, and a car flipping over while crashing into something. We aren't experiencing the thrill of the chase, the build-up to the crash is never given. And because of that, the movie is never exciting, thrilling, or tense. When the camera finally does take a moment to calm down and relax, it's to give the audience the best shot and sequence of the film. As Magna chases down a car the movie cuts to a single take from a camera planted on the very front of the car. The shot is quiet and the zigzagging in and out of traffic feels very real, but what feels like a build-up to something shocking and spectacular leads to nothing but a cutaway to the rest of the chase that ends in them simply stopping.

Getaway seems like its just a hideous car wreck that keeps playing out over and over again, kicking off a new chase every few minutes to engage the "excitement." If watching a demolition derby at Ludicrous Speed sounds fun to you, please understand this is still absolutely nothing like that. Just imagine trying to keep up with the drifts, skids, collisions, and explosions it can be overwhelming. You'll be interested for the first five minutes or so, but after that expect a huge sigh of regret once you realize those five minutes are going to be replayed for the remaining eighty five.

I actually like Selena Gomez, but she couldn't do anything to help the movie at all. Probably and most likely due to a weak script, the dialogue between her and Ethan Hawke got extremely boring and dull for most of the movie. I struggled to find any good points in the movie except the vehicle that Ethan Hawke drove during the film which was a mustang if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't recommend this flick to anyone unless you're a major fan of "car chases and getaways" there would be an over abundance of that waiting for you.