Jason KingA Perfect Getaway (5/10)
February 5th 2010 08:30
:
Could have been great!!
Category: No Category
A Perfect Getaway (5/10)
Upon seeing this trailer months ago I was very excited to see the film. It had a feeling similar to The Beach but with more action in it and a little bit more insanity and suspense.
And what starts out looking like a brilliant piece of supsense set in one of the most beautiful locations in the world eventualy deteriorates into a sloppy piece of disaster. It is definately better than most slasher flicks but a dissapointment none the less.
Directed by David Twohy, who is probably best known for The Fugitive and Pitch Black, the film follows Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) who are on an adventurous honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking into the wild and beautiful terrain to reach their destination they come across a group of frightened hikers discussing the frightening news they have found online (thanks to IPhones) of an horrific murder of another newlywed couple on the islands. They begin to question whether they should go back, but unsure as to which Hawiian Island the murderers are on decide to press forward.
Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples throughout their journey and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from help and rescue, everyone begins to look like the possible murderers and nobody can trust anybody else.
The film hosts a pretty decent cast with Milla Jovovich, who can either be appalling or decent, from film to film. In this one I actually thought her acting in the first half of the film was some of the best I had ever seen from her. She is relaxed and enjoying herself. But then when the "shit hits the fan" she slips back into her wooden acting and looks as though she is reading her lines from cards placed around the set. She seems to lose facial expressions when trying too hard to act and this is not a good thing. There is also Steve Zahn, who I really like in most things. I prefer him in comedy however he is really good in this one and encapsulates the fear and paranoia of the film better than anyone else.
I love Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4, Deadwood) in anything, that voice, that face and that kind of metrosexualism from him is always good. I really enjoyed the couple of him and his girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez), they are this live-off-the-land adventurous type that have no issue skinning an animal in the middle of their campground
I was also very excited about seeing Australian actor, fresh from Home and Away and Captain Kirk's dad in the latest Star Trek, Chris Hemsworth, in this film. He features heavily in the trailer, probably due to his rise of stardom since Star Trek and the fact he has scored a role as Thor in an upcoming film, and he just looks amazing. Much rougher, with tats and all, a huge change from Trek, and heaps buff without belief in wearing a shirt of any kind. I think they were trying to sell him as the sex symbol in this film, but I was quite pissed to find out he probably only has about 5minutes of screen time. And the first minute or two you don't even see his face, only his tats and his pecs - I could deal with that, but would much prefer to see the actor talking.
The film does come across as quite intelligent and is more of a suspenseful paranoia film than a Hollywood slasher, add to that they chose decent actors instead of run of the mill college jocks with perfect bodies and big boobed dimwitted damsels who can't act to save their lives. But the paranoia and suspense drag on way too long, for a 98 minute film to only get into high gear in the last 25 - 30min was pretty disappointing. My friend Jack and I kept saying, "come on, get bloodywell on with it". And the editing of the last 30min was just shocking, the editor should have been shot for his three way split screen. It was disgraceful and I have seen better editing from a Yr12 student. There is only one place split screens work succesfully, and that is with Jack Bauer on the tv show 24 - that is how it is done and no other way!!
The film was known for it's huge reveal towards the end, but it did not help that I worked it out 15min in to the film. While it may appear succesfully done to to a few, the film makers lead the audience away from the obvious with broad strokes, no real subtelty, that the truth sticks out like a sore thumb. If I had paid attention I could have picked it in the opening montage. It tries to be an intelligent film while treating it's audience like high school kids.
It is not woeful and is a great popcorn film for a rainy day/ night in. Watch it for the paranoid suspense, great locales and the brief viewing of Chris Hemsworth The film released last August in the US and from what I have heard it is now out on DVD in Australia. Worth 5/10.
Upon seeing this trailer months ago I was very excited to see the film. It had a feeling similar to The Beach but with more action in it and a little bit more insanity and suspense.
And what starts out looking like a brilliant piece of supsense set in one of the most beautiful locations in the world eventualy deteriorates into a sloppy piece of disaster. It is definately better than most slasher flicks but a dissapointment none the less.
Directed by David Twohy, who is probably best known for The Fugitive and Pitch Black, the film follows Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) who are on an adventurous honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking into the wild and beautiful terrain to reach their destination they come across a group of frightened hikers discussing the frightening news they have found online (thanks to IPhones) of an horrific murder of another newlywed couple on the islands. They begin to question whether they should go back, but unsure as to which Hawiian Island the murderers are on decide to press forward.
Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples throughout their journey and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from help and rescue, everyone begins to look like the possible murderers and nobody can trust anybody else.
The film hosts a pretty decent cast with Milla Jovovich, who can either be appalling or decent, from film to film. In this one I actually thought her acting in the first half of the film was some of the best I had ever seen from her. She is relaxed and enjoying herself. But then when the "shit hits the fan" she slips back into her wooden acting and looks as though she is reading her lines from cards placed around the set. She seems to lose facial expressions when trying too hard to act and this is not a good thing. There is also Steve Zahn, who I really like in most things. I prefer him in comedy however he is really good in this one and encapsulates the fear and paranoia of the film better than anyone else.
I love Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4, Deadwood) in anything, that voice, that face and that kind of metrosexualism from him is always good. I really enjoyed the couple of him and his girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez), they are this live-off-the-land adventurous type that have no issue skinning an animal in the middle of their campground
I was also very excited about seeing Australian actor, fresh from Home and Away and Captain Kirk's dad in the latest Star Trek, Chris Hemsworth, in this film. He features heavily in the trailer, probably due to his rise of stardom since Star Trek and the fact he has scored a role as Thor in an upcoming film, and he just looks amazing. Much rougher, with tats and all, a huge change from Trek, and heaps buff without belief in wearing a shirt of any kind. I think they were trying to sell him as the sex symbol in this film, but I was quite pissed to find out he probably only has about 5minutes of screen time. And the first minute or two you don't even see his face, only his tats and his pecs - I could deal with that
, but would much prefer to see the actor talking.
The film does come across as quite intelligent and is more of a suspenseful paranoia film than a Hollywood slasher, add to that they chose decent actors instead of run of the mill college jocks with perfect bodies and big boobed dimwitted damsels who can't act to save their lives. But the paranoia and suspense drag on way too long, for a 98 minute film to only get into high gear in the last 25 - 30min was pretty disappointing. My friend Jack and I kept saying, "come on, get bloodywell on with it". And the editing of the last 30min was just shocking, the editor should have been shot for his three way split screen. It was disgraceful and I have seen better editing from a Yr12 student. There is only one place split screens work succesfully, and that is with Jack Bauer on the tv show 24 - that is how it is done and no other way!!
The film was known for it's huge reveal towards the end, but it did not help that I worked it out 15min in to the film. While it may appear succesfully done to to a few, the film makers lead the audience away from the obvious with broad strokes, no real subtelty, that the truth sticks out like a sore thumb. If I had paid attention I could have picked it in the opening montage. It tries to be an intelligent film while treating it's audience like high school kids.
It is not woeful and is a great popcorn film for a rainy day/ night in. Watch it for the paranoid suspense, great locales and the brief viewing of Chris Hemsworth
The film released last August in the US and from what I have heard it is now out on DVD in Australia. Worth 5/10.| 18 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
