Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
8/11/09
Ten
years ago this week, M. Night Shayamalan ushered in The Twist Era with
The Sixth Sense. Yes, Twilight Zone fans who paid close
attention to exactly who spoke to Bruce Willis, when and how could see
the tag coming from almost the first scene, but the lucky ones were those
who didn't. Because it's a fine movie either way, but the IMPACT
of a Twist Movie is reliant upon it sneaking up behind you and getting
you to jump when it yells “Boo!”. A decade later, that gets harder
and harder. Twist-hardened moviegoers such as myself have just been
twisted upon too many times to be snookered by all but the most clever
surprises simply because we now have a certain understanding of the slight-of-hand
that hides a twist, and when we see that misdirection in action, it's our
cue to start guessing. And if all you've got is that twist, you're
screwed. In that spirit, David Twohy celebrates this auspicious anniversary
by offering us the first post-twist movie. Oh, sure, his Vacation
From Hell thriller A Perfect Getaway includes a hum-dinger of a
reversal if you don't see it coming. But unlike the oodles of failed
Twist Movies we've rolled our eyes at these last few years, Getaway
doesn't really mind if you guess. It's built to be enjoyed either
way, and you'll rack your brain to recall the last jauntier, more delightfully
self-assured thriller.
Screenwriter
Cliff (Steve Zahn) and his new wife Cydney (Milla Jovovich) head to Hawaii
for their honeymoon. As they head for a secluded beach on the island
of Kaua'i, ominous events start to pile up. First, there's a threatening
encounter with hitchhikers Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton).
Then comes news that another set of newlyweds were brutally murdered in
Honolulu, from whence they just came. Cliff and Cydney meet another
couple along the road: Nick (Timothy Olyphant) is a veteran of mysterious
Special Ops all around the world and knows everything you need to know
about killing people. His girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez) is no slouch
herself when it comes to gutting an animal for supper. But they're
charming and fun and the two couples decide to head for that beach together,
especially when Kale and Cleo turn up on the same trail nursing a grudge.
But as they get farther from civilization, tension mounts and both couples
start looking at the other as the killers. Did I mention that Nick
and Gina just got in from Honolulu?
I will
say no more about A Perfect Getaway's twists and turns, but what
makes it special is that I wasn't fooled for even a single second and I
still loved the movie to pieces. It can be argued that it's not even
Twohy's intention to fool the experienced moviegoer: Cliff the writer
and Nick the guy who took a course on writing talk openly about twists
and red herrings and Twohy even calls his shot by having them talk again
and again about “second-act twists” letting us know pretty much at exactly
what point in the running time he intends to reveal all. I wasn't
even bothered that he then devotes a huge chunk of screentime to flashbacks
filling in the gaps in his narrative because he cleverly takes advantage
of that time to not only reset the characters' motivations, but also their
relationships in regard to not only each other, but also to us in the audience.
Most Twist Movies are like Three-Card Monte: the filmmaker is hiding
something and keeps moving plot pieces around to prevent the audience from
guessing what he's hidden. But Getaway's game is more complex:
Twohy is playing with our identification with characters, withholding not
only the fact of who's the killer but the early scenes that make us bond
with the heroes and despise the villains. Without them, we rest in
a vacuum where all four suspects are pretty neat, and as such it doesn't
let the air out of the film's balloon to finally have two of them unmasked
as murderous psychos because we're now free to finally connect hard with
the other two and root them through to the finish.
And
a suspenseful finish it is because Towhy has created a crackerjack matchup
of heroes and villains and let it loose in a genre pitiless enough that
the outcome is not guaranteed. To the final moment, he keeps us guessing
about just how far he and his characters are willing to go. But the
level of attachment and fun at play would not be possible without four
great performances that make us feel like however much the script is holding
back, the actors aren't playing any games. Zahn is at the man of
action end of his manly/goofy range and feels like a guy who can handle
himself without sacrificing the sense that he's both a tourist and a man
who thinks more than he acts. Jovovich rarely gets to play such a
“normal” woman, and just glows with charm and good cheer. Sanchez
(best known for her infamous run as Lost's Nikki to Rodrigo Santoro's
Paulo) is delightfully folksy. Both couples have great chemesty.
But
first and foremost, the show belongs to Olyphant, who's steadily built
a resume of quality performances as cool, steely men of action and here
turns all that on its' ear. Nick is a world-class goofball, a man
with a million improbable stories about sacking Saddam Hussein's palace,
jumping out of a crashing jet liner and walking around for 17 minutes with
a hole shot in his brain. He's also studied the structure of movies
and screenplays and knows exactly what's in store even if “making the pages”
just wasn't for him. His sense of “glad to be alive” self-amusement
works equally well whether he's the killer or exactly who he says he is,
and I was delighted every moment he was on-screen.
A
Perfect Getaway looks great, glowing with the natural beauty of the
Hawaiian island upon which it was filmed (Puerto Rico and Jamaica also
subbed as needed). And it really knows how to play a crowd:
I saw a weekday matinée with just about a dozen people and it was
one of the most loudly engaged crowds I've seen a movie with in quite some
time. Given the blockbuster-driven movie landscape of 2009, it's
sad that there's really NO way for a movie like this to be a hit, but I
strongly recommend that anyone who can see it in a theater do so.
Or at least invite a bunch of people over when it comes out on DVD.
Twohy's
not a familiar name to most moviegoers, but he's racked up some impressive
credits over the years, most famously writing and directing Pitch Black
(although misbegotten sequel projects like The Chronicles of Riddick
proceeded to swallow up most of the last ten years of his career).
He also co-wrote The Fugitive, wrote the great 1989 sleeper Warlock,
and both wrote and directed the little-known but nifty sci-fi flicks The
Arrival and The Grand Tour (alternately known on video as Disaster
in Time and Timescape). A Perfect Getaway is something
of a genre departure for him, but it's perhaps his best, most self-assured
film yet.
I haven't
had to get out the Spoiler Warning tape for A Perfect Getaway because
it's not so much a movie about its' reversals as about how it trots them
out. In so doing, it's able to remain a delightful, crackerjack thriller
despite spending 2/3 of its' running time hiding the fundamental nature
of two of its' four main characters. Neat trick, just as long as
it doesn't lead to ten more years of the same. |
