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‘A Perfect Getaway’ is imperfect
Movie
A Perfect Getaway
Cliff and Cydney are an adventurous young couple celebrating their honeymoon by backpacking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. Hiking the wild, secluded trails, they believe they've found paradise. But when the pair comes across a group of frightened hikers discussing the horrifying murder of another newlywed couple on the islands, they begin to question whether they should turn back. Unsure whether to stay or flee, Cliff and Cydney join up with two other couples, and things begin to go terrifyingly wrong. Far from civilization or rescue, everyone begins to look like a threat and nobody knows whom to trust. Paradise becomes hell on earth as a brutal battle for survival begins.
‘A PERFECT GETAWAY’
Grade: C
Director: David Twohy
Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Rating: R, graphic violence, language including sexual references and some drug use
By Roger Moore
A romantic vacation hiking the wilds of Hawaii is not in the cards for one couple in the somewhat engrossing thriller “A Perfect Getaway.”
Since there are three couples on that trail, the trick to this not-as-tricky-as-you’d-hope mystery is figuring out which couples are potential victims and which are murderers.
It has only one conventionally tricky way the mystery can resolve itself. That doesn’t mean the finale of this David Twohy (”Pitch Black”) film isn’t a lulu.
Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) are newlyweds spending their honeymoon trekking on Kauai. He’s fresh out of film school, a “screenplay writer,” she crows.
“Actually, we’re called screenwriters,” he corrects.
The people they meet aren’t exactly charming company. There’s the rough-hewn Kale and Cleo (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton), scary hitchhikers who take an instant dislike to them. Trail-mates Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez) are chatty free spirits. But Nick’s got a million stories about his violent “Special Forces” past, tips for Cliff’s script’s “second-act surprise” or “red snapper.”
“Red herring,” Cliff corrects.
“You’re a screenwriter, I’m a Jedi,” Nick cracks back.
Olyphant (“Hitman”) is making a nice career for himself out of his spooky eyes and bad-guy vibe. He has lots of fun with Nick, all swagger and bluff, a regular “Man vs. Wild.”
“He is really hard to kill,” drawls Gina at a death-defying tale from Nick.
But out there in the Hawaiian boondocks, word creeps in about murders in Honolulu, and Cliff and Cydney start to panic.
Jovovich, who has morphed from skinny model into the resident butt-kicker of the “Resident Evil” movies, gives Cydney girlish touches, playing naive to the hilt.
It’s too bad Twohy relied on that student screenwriter’s crutch — a screenwriter character in a movie about thriller clich s — and typed himself into a corner. The exotic setting and characters deserve more riveting situations than this imperfect “Getaway” gives them.