Sunday, March 20, 2011

A Perfect Getaway. Not.


A Perfect Getaway, written and directed by David Twohy, starring Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn and Kiele Sanchez (2009): Twohy's an interesting writer even when he botches something (like, say, Chronicles of Riddick); here, he's more in his wheelhouse with a lower-key thriller like the underrated Below and The Arrival (the latter with a surprisingly restrained Charlie Sheen playing a climate scientist of all things!).

Jovovich and Zahn play newlyweds vacationing in Hawaii. A male/female serial killer team is killing newlyweds on Oahu. Zahn and Jovovich are on another island on a three-day nature hike in a mostly deserted jungle. They encounter not one but two sets of increasingly suspicious fellow vacationers, one of which they end up hiking and camping with (Olyphant and Sanchez).

Zahn's character is a slightly whiny screenwriter; Olyphant is a macho blabbermouth claiming to be a Special Ops veteran. Another couple, dominated by the hulking Chris Hemsworth (Captain Kirk's father in the Star Trek reboot and Thor in the upcoming Thor) seems to be following them. And so does someone else. And they're a two-day hike from civilization. And cellphone reception is lousy. And Olyphant's fiancee is really, really good at gutting and dressing a goat.

Who's the killer? Is there a killer? The movie builds fairly slowly -- it's old school -- but when the time comes, it both rewards the building suspense and plays fairly with the audience in terms of what it's presented, and how all that ties together. A nice 90 minutes. And the title works on at least two levels!!! Recommended.

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