Kiele Sanchez

Posts Tagged ‘Blu-ray Review’

Timothy Olyphant at KieleSanchez.com

Timothy Olyphant x Kiele Sanchez have the American Spirit in A Perfect Getaway!

The Film starts with a couple, Cliff and Cydney Anderson, honeymooning on the Hawaiian Islands.  While taking in the scenery of the great outdoors during an 11-mile nature trek across one of the islands, they come across a group of girls who have just learned that there have been some murders on the islands and that the killers have yet to be caught.  Fearing that it might be the abrasive couple that they didn’t give a ride to and is now on the same hike that they are on, they decide to continue on with another couple, Nick and Gina.  However, the idea of “safety in numbers” starts to seem fallible as paranoia sets in and everyone starts to become suspicious of everyone else, changing the hike into a game of “everyone’s a suspect.”

Starting with hand held footage from the wedding, this film quickly puts the viewer on their guard.  After all, beginning a film of this genre with something as happy and nostalgic as a wedding video can never be a good sign for the characters involved.  Then the story picks up with the couple in a really beautiful part of Hawaii (and Puerto Rico if you are keeping track of actual shooting locations) that’s sunny and romantic, yet creepy thanks to the surrounding dense greenery with iffy cell phone reception.  By keeping the footage shot mainly to the daytime, the story becomes slightly more off-putting and uncomfortable thanks to the sunshine mixed with the potential for brutality like with what has been done in The Ruins and Lost.

Though the setting and how the film is shot adds a lot to the overall feel of the film, most of the creepy factor actually comes from the characters themselves.  Though there are a few obvious standouts as to who can be suspected of being murderers, this film is full of potential red herrings.  First there is the above-mentioned couple, Cleo and Kale (Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth), who appear to be stalking Cliff and Cydney and seem to have enough anger issues to kill someone over not being given a ride.  Then there is Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez), whose hospitality mixed with death-defying wild stories makes them a prime contender for the murderous couple as well.  But then after the main couples are assessed, there are plenty of other characters to start to wonder about, and every action and word spoken becomes a potential clue as to the killers’ identities.  Every glace becomes suspicious, and at one point I was even willing to throw the group of girls from the beginning of the film into the suspect pot.  In other words, everyone is a suspect, and it is easy to spend every moment trying to piece what is really happening together until the murderers are revealed.  And though this revelation may not be that surprising once it finally enters out into the open, it is still deserved because of all the work up to that point.  But I will say the flashback scene following is a little much and drags on longer than it should, sticking out like a soar thumb thanks to the monotonous use of blue throughout its entirety.

The “who-done-it” element is one of the best parts of the film thanks to the cast being filled with actors capable of great performances, with Olyphant’s portrayal of the off kilter war vet being a highlight.  Plus, the film warrants as many cheers as it does “ugh! Don’t do that!” cries because these characters obviously don’t always show the best decision making for the type of film they find themselves in.  But with its minor flaws, A Perfect Getaway remains an entertaining thriller that keeps you reassessing what you know the whole time.

Final Grade: A-

Blu-ray Review: A Perfect Getaway

A Perfect Getaway opens with the same old cliché I’d be happy to see die, a video montage of people at a wedding giving their well-wishes to the newlyweds Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich). Intercut with the video we catch up with the newlyweds on their Hawaiian honeymoon. Everything appears to be idyllic in this Pacific Eden until word gets out that there’s a killer couple out there knocking people off. This information arrives around the same time Cliff and Cydney meet two couples, Kale and Cleo (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton), two other newlyweds with an off-putting air about them, and Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez), a former special ops man’s man and his handy-with-a-knife girlfriend.

Or are they? Or are anyone? Who’s who? Who are you? You may not be sure after the movie’s frustrating second act twist that twists the film so hard it nearly breaks it. Fortunately the movie’s thrilling third act, fun performers and beautiful scenery make the endeavor, while far from perfect, certainly entertaining.

The only thing stopping me from giving it a wholehearted endorsement is that damn twist. Alfred Hitchcock laid down a lot of brilliant ideas about how to execute a good thriller. He came up with the MacGuffin. He famously said, “Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders.” One of his most acknowledged truisms was that the filmmaker should never, ever lie to his audience. Characters could lie to other characters, directors could misdirect the audience, even fool them, but they should never, ever lie.

I went back and watched A Perfect Getaway a second time because I felt certain that it had lied to me with its twist. It hadn’t, and I will give writer/director David Twohy credit for that, but it still felt like a lie. For the sake of one reveal Twohy lets the tail wag the dog for the first hour and change of his film, and instead of surprising the audience it just makes them feel jerked around.

The twist is also a bust in that it comes in the shape of a flashback that lasts nearly ten minutes and shows the audience a much more interesting movie than the one they’ve been watching for the last hour. As proof of this, the last twenty minutes are full of wild action, exciting reversals, and a handful of big, fun moments. Giving the audience the information at the beginning that Twohy hides away for two-thirds of the movie would open up the film to be both a fun cat-and-mouse game as well as a potentially fascinating character study. Instead, it’s an hour of shell game, an explosion of exposition, and twenty minutes of thrills, spills and kills.

Even the shell game has its moments, though. This is due largely to the cast, a cadre of charismatic character actors who seem to be having fun traipsing through the stunningly gorgeous Hawaiian landscape. Steve Zahn, an engaging scene-stealer usually relegated to comic relief and indie quirk, gets to chew some different kinds of scenery here, and acquits himself nicely. Timothy Olyphant exudes an excellent swagger, and uses it here to full effect. Although neither he nor Kiele Sanchez seem quite sure of what accent they’re going for, they make for a fun, believable couple that’s just this side of survivalist. And then there’s Milla Jovovich. Is there another actress who throws herself into roles with the same insane gusto as Ms. Jovovich? She is, in a way, the female Christopher Walken. She appears to take whatever comes her way, the wackier the better, and even when the movies around her are awful (and lord, a large percentage of them are) she is unfailingly worth watching. This movie is no exception. When the script gets ludicrous she is right there with it, note for note, selling it like it was Chekhov and looking as gorgeous as the scenery around her while doing it.

And let’s talk about that scenery. It’s a Blu-ray like this that can really help show off the glories of this technology. The Hawaiian scenery looks absolutely stunning. The grand finale, set on a secluded beach and involving a waterfall, a cliff, and a sea cave, makes for some pretty spectacular viewing. Twohy uses the setting well, making the changing landscapes, weather patterns and vibrant colors of the locale help build the suspense.

Twohy’s a yeoman director, cranking out better-than-average genre fair like Pitch Black, Below and The Arrival. Even with his missteps here he’s crafted some solid suspense and good thrills. The Blu-ray comes with both the theatrical cut and the “unrated director’s cut.” I recommend the theatrical cut. I watched them both in close succession, and honestly the only things missing from the theatrical cut were little moments that were either annoying or superfluous and were rightly taken out.

Although I cannot say I’d recommend it without reservations, if you’re looking for a thriller with good acting and set pieces, and you don’t mind if the film occasionally becomes too clever by half, then A Perfect Getaway should definitely sate your appetite.