"a good movie for a date night"
If the daytime soap operas were ever given a chance to become big screen movie, A Perfect Getaway would be that movie. The plot is right out of one of the many soaps my mom watched when I was a kid. You have the main couple who are on their way to Hawaii for their Honeymoon. You have the couple that are the wilderness/survival freaks that befriend the first couple. And then you have the “bad” couple who are rough and tough and just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time OR, as we call them in the movie business…the red herring. All three meet up and we learn that (cue music) one of these things is not like the other. One of these couples are killers and we’re along for the ride to find out who.
The movie focuses on Cliff (Steven Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) Anderson as they are on their Hawaiian honeymoon. They arrive days after a mysterious murder has been discovered on the main island of Honolulu of another honeymooning couple. Deciding to move forward they continue with their vacation not letting that murder overshadow the anticipated fun and adventure. Along the way they meet up with Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and his wife Cleo (Marley Shelton), as well as Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and his girlfriend, Gina (Kiele Sanchez). During this time as they are walking the Hawaiian trails they learn from others that the police and the park rangers are on-site looking for the killers, as it is believed that they may have left Honolulu and are now on the same island as our couples. Needless to say, each suspects the other, and Trouble in Paradise isn’t just a cliché.
As I stated, I liked the mystery of A Perfect Getaway. Writer/Director David Twohy did an incredible job of setting up the plot and leading the audience along the ride of “who could the killer be?”. His cinematic views of the trails in Hawaii are breathtaking and make me actually want to go there for vacation one year (minus the murder and mayhem). The only problem I had with this movie was his development of one the characters and how this affected the overall feel of the movie. Without trying to ruin the plot, Nick tells Cliff and Cydney about some of his past experiences as a Navy SEAL in the course of the film. My problem is that at one point Nick turns into Rambo and changes the pace of the movie – which in turn changes the mood from mystery to action movie for a matter of minutes. To me, the jolt took away from what had been established up till this moment as a perfect buildup to the Act 3 reveal. like having a lush, flowery green carpet suddenly pulled out from underneath you. Did it ruin the overall movie? No, and that is a good thing as you’ll still enjoy the ride of A Perfect Getaway.
A Perfect Getaway is distributed by Universal Pictures and written and directed by David Twohy. It is rated “R” for graphic violence, language including sexual references and some drug use. With a run time of 97 minutes it is a good movie for a date night; take in a nice walk and some ice cream after.
