Movie Review: A Perfect Getaway (2009)
Director: David Twohy
Cast: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez
Plot: On their honeymoon is Hawaii, two newly-weds discover that there's a killer on the island hunting newly-weds. And the killers themselves may also be newly weds. Enter three pairs of newly weds (or near newly weds): Cliff (Zahn) and Cydney (Jovovich), Nick (Olyphant) and Gina (Sanchez), and Cleo and Kale. All of them are on their way to a beach in the middle of nowhere on the island. All of them suspect each other. Paranoia ensues.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Other than the fact that I completely saw the twist coming miles before the big reveal, even after the movie has ended I'm a little confused about the "why." The motivation for the characters was never revealed. It all deals with identity theft in the highest degree, but why do it? I get that killing animals at a young age leads into serial killer behaviors later in life, but why take on other people's identity? And the guys says he's really good at it, yet we've only seen this one example - and guess what, he wasn't very good at it! Plus, there's a whole lot of confusion about the misdirection conversation to point the fingers away from the actual killers...which, why would you have that conversation when a flashback later reveals that in private you have different conversations? This is called "plot holes," and there are many.

***END SPOILERS***



The movie was an enjoyable ride that keeps poking fun at the fact that it's a movie. Breaking the fourth wall a few times was funny to someone like me, who understands three act structure and how story elements play off of each other. But the average movie-goer may not get it, and it could be frustrating for them - or boring. I do admit to waiting for this movie to start for a long time...and in the third act is when the movie gets going. In a BIG way! And it happens so fast and hard that you're barely left with time to ask the important questions that I posed above in the spoiler section, which is mostly "why" these things are happening.

The end is also where most of that R-rating comes into play. Before the third act it's some language and minor nudity (you get to see a butt, and some side boob), but once the killer(s) are revealed the blood starts free-flowing and there's a lot of hand stabbing. A lot of "oh snap" moments. And even a few "hero shots." Then the ending comes out of nowhere, and it's over. It's a bit disjointed, with a flashback montage to try and explain plot holes that don't really get explained (like the SAW franchise, it tries to be witty but to anyone who knows better, it's actually very sloppy).

Unfortunately, this nit-picking is going to make it sound like I didn't enjoy seeing the movie - which is not true. I enjoyed the flick from start to finish, despite the plot holes and short comings. It's very entertaining. And while it reaches at points to throw you off or make suspense where none is needed, it has a lot of fun fourth wall references and movie jargon (ie: There's a scene where Cliff and Nick are talking about Red Herrings, only Nick calls them "Red Snappers." Where a character is introduced to throw the audience off from what's really happening. And they actually call it out in the movie, because in that scene Nick is the Red Herring. It's funny to me, but may be lost on the average movie audience).

I got to see this movie as a pre-screening, so the free price tag may be influencing my opinion (it was worth the price of admission), but it is a fun flick to see. Not necessary for theaters, although there are a lot of very beautiful shots of Hawaii and the landscape. Far from a "must see" movie, though.

Labels: a perfect getaway, milla jovovich, movie review, steve zahn