Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on August 6, 2009, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
“Pleasant” isn’t usually a word used to praise horror films, but it describes quite a bit of A Perfect Getaway, which is really more of a suspense-thriller than an out-and-out shocker. It spends a lot more time hanging out with its characters in extremely attractive scenery than it devotes to them being menaced and killed, and in the scheme of this particular scenario, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
An opening series of camcorder snippets from a wedding celebration introduces us to newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich), who take their honeymoon on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. While driving to the starting point of a long hike to a beautiful, isolated beach, they stop to pick up a couple of hippie-ish hitchhikers—but while Cleo (Marley Shelton) seems friendly enough, her boyfriend Kale (Chris Hemsworth) has a menacing air about him, and Cliff and Cydney renege on the ride. Bad idea? Maybe…
Once they hit the trail, C & C encounter Nick (Timothy Olyphant), a rugged type who helps them over one of the trickier patches and, at a hidden waterfall, introduces them to his (naked) girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez). The four become hiking companions, and Nick regales Cliff with tales of his exploits in some undefined special military unit. Cliff’s a scriptwriter who has recently made a big sale, and Nick thinks he might be a good subject for Cliff’s next screenplay—but the latter’s profession is really an excuse for writer/director David Twohy to indulge in copious dialogue about storytelling, getting the details right, the use of “red snappers” (as Nick calls them), etc.
Not as annoyingly self-reflexive as it might have been, this device allows Twohy to comment amusingly on his own narrative, especially when Kale and Cleo make a reappearance right around the time everyone learns that another couple has been murdered on a neighboring island. Suspects…or red snappers? After all, Nick’s tough-guy attitude has a threatening undercurrent of its own, and Gina keeps going on about how he’s “hard to kill.” And then, when the foursome set up camp for the evening, Nick gets out a large hunting bow and invites Cliff to head into the forest with him to track and kill their dinner. A chance for the rather nerdy Cliff to man up a bit…or a walk in the woods he might not come back from?
Twohy has fun teasing the audience like this for A Perfect Getaway’s first hour, sprinkling the proceedings with tense moments and setting it all against lush, lovingly photographed (by Mark Plummer) settings, some actually in Hawaii but mostly lensed in Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The four leads make for fine company, with Zahn playing down but not completely submerging his usual comic charm; Jovovich effectively de-glamming and softening a bit from her Resident Evil persona; the terrific Olyphant bringing a cocky, confident edge that you’d like to trust, but can’t entirely; and Sanchez doing the good ol’ gal to perfection. In their more limited roles, Hemsworth (showing off the bod that helped get him cast as Thor in the upcoming Marvel Comics movie) and Shelton make strong, suspicious impressions.
Once things eventually get truly scary, the time spent with the characters, getting to know them and their individualities, pays off. What happens in the film’s final third should not be discussed even in generalities, though it can be said that Twohy’s approach to the violence and scenes of pursuit ranges from efficiently tense close-quarters confrontations to occasional visual trickery that seems more appropriate to a 1970s TV sports program. Beyond these touches, the writer/director handles everything with an appealing naturalism, and it’s a nice touch that, instead of absolutely isolating the six protagonists and potential antagonists, he more realistically has other travelers turn up along the trail, offering bits of exposition and possible assistance.
Some genre fans might by disappointed by A Perfect Getaway’s comparative lack of hardcore horror content, and others may find that certain story developments stretch disbelief a little too far. But while A Perfect Getaway’s pleasures are modest, they are plentiful, and with its handsome widescreen vistas justifying a big-screen viewing, its unpretentious fun thrills offer a satisfying vacation from over-the-top summer-movie bombast.
