A PERFECT GETAWAY
RYAN: I’m so disappointed I had to miss the screening for “A Perfect Getaway.” The trailer was so enticing to me, and you know I love Milla Jovovich.
CAROLINE: Well, it is a gorgeous, enticing movie in the sense that it’s shot in Hawaii and Puerto Rico and it’s about a couple on their honeymoon. I was expecting an out-and-out slasher movie, but it’s actually not. It’s more like an hour and ten minutes of tension and then only twenty minutes of blood and gore.
RYAN: So is that first hour and ten full of great, suspenseful build-up, or is it more like a slow burn?
CAROLINE: Well, it’s certainly not Hitchcock. This movie could just as easily have been released in February. It doesn’t suck at all, but it’s not a fabulous thriller or anything. It’s a fun, popcorn movie.
RYAN: Oh. I wanted it to be great.CAROLINE: It’s hard to say because I saw it alone. I think I would have enjoyed it much more if you were sitting next to me. The first chunk is them trying to figure out who’s behind the murder of a newlywed couple on the island. There are a few suspicious types and you don’t know who to trust. So that part’s fun.
RYAN: Is it scary?
CAROLINE: It’s a little freaky… but then it gets a little silly. The audience definitely laughed at inappropriate parts a few times. But the “bad guys” do a very convincing job. Timothy Olyphant, who normally annoys me, is very appropriate for this role. And he’s quite muscular, I might add.RYAN: How was Milla Jovovovovovich?
CAROLINE: In some scenes I thought she was wretched, but in others she totally pulled her own weight. She certainly looks good, and she and Steve Zahn actually work well together. It’s not a pairing I would have thought of, but they’re cute together. And everyone in the movie is good-looking, of course. It’s one of those tropical island setting flicks where everyone is gorgeous with a smokin’ bod.
RYAN: So it’s not that different from a lot of the slasher movies we’ve seen. Nothing superb, but kind of fun and creepy.
CAROLINE: Definitely, with some major violence at the end. I think you’d like it. It’s got a couple of good twists. Some of the acting got a little over-the-top toward the end, but it still worked. It’s more like a sexy thriller than a great one, but there’s nothing wrong with that in August.
RYAN: Well, I’m glad you didn’t hate it because I know you weren’t as jazzed about it as I was.
— BOTTOM LINE —
CAROLINE: It’s a decent flick; good for this time of year when it’s not competing with the huge summer movies. Unless you love this genre, you don’t need to see it on the big screen. Clearly, blood and gore is not for everyone. But this one has more than that, which is nice. There’s a real story there.
And who doesn’t love a movie about a homicidal maniac on the loose in paradise?— RATING —
