Talkbacker D.Vader Goes On David Twohy's PERFECT GETAWAY!!

Merrick here...
Talkbacker D.Vader sent us a review of A PERFET GETAWAY; he seemed to enjoy the film more than Massawyrm did (HERE). However, D.Vader throws around the dreaded "F word"..."fun"...in his review, which some feel is not an acceptable adjective/criteria for film evaluation these days (per THIS G.I. JOE Talkback).
So, just how much did D.Vader enjoy his PERFECT GETAWAY? Read on...

Ahoy fellow film-geeks of AICN! D.Vader here. Earlier this evening I caught a free screening of David Twohy’s new thriller “A Perfect Getaway” starring Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich. If you haven’t caught any commercials yet, you might be seeing an ad for it on the right side of your screen right now- its the one with a goofy-looking Steve Zahn waving from a helicopter. I hadn’t heard much about this film before, and I’ve only just recently started to see ads for this on tv. I remember a logline from somewhere (maybe here at AICN) that seemed to suggest this movie was about a group of newlywed couples being picked off one by one by a team of assassins from within the group. Well if, like me, you were deceived and *that’s* what you think this movie is, forget it. There are no assassins. If you think this is a standard horror/thriller where people get picked off one by one and you struggle to figure out who the killer is before the end, forget it. There are no onscreen kills until the third act. I won’t go into spoilers here because I knew nothing about this film walking in, and I think you will enjoy the movie much better without knowing too much. So, without further ado and without any more setup involving my day and what I ate and yadda yadda yadda, let’s get to it. The movie begins with home-video footage of a wedding party. The groomsmen are congratulating the “lucky” man, some throwing out friendly insults, angry that he’s just made his first “studio sale” (funny, because none of these guys look like film students to me). Interspersed with this wedding footage are home-video of Steve Zahn, shot by Milla Jovovich, his lovely new wife, as they drive through Hawaii on their honeymoon. Sad, somber music plays throughout this montage. The juxtaposition of these happy scenes with this downbeat music gives you the sense that this film will end badly for the couple, and it starts the sense of foreboding before the credits have even finished. Unbeknownst at first to Zahn and Milla, it turns out that a newlywed couple was found brutally murdered on one of the other islands. The suspects are a man and woman and are believed to have moved to the current island the honeymooners are on. As they travel, they meet two other couples, both of which could be the murderers. One is made of the always great Timothy Olyphant and LOST’s infamous Nikki, Kiele Sanchez. The other is made of Sin City’s Marley Shelton and Star Trek’s Chris Hemsworth, sporting a beard that gives us an idea of what he’ll look like as the future Thor. Two things really surprised me as the movie progressed. The first is that this isn’t a slasher film like the tv ads led me to believe; its a thriller. It is structured to make you wonder who will be the killer- Olyphant or Hemsworth? Or someone else?- and a great deal of time is spent setting up the characters, building a relationship between the couples, and ratcheting up the tension. The second thing that surprised me was all the talk about filmmaking and structure. This film definitely takes a page out of “SCREAM”s playbook. See, Steve Zahn is a screenwriter. When he meets Timothy Olyphant, Olyphant begins to talk about how he took a filmmaking boot course once and knows all about form and structure and whatnot. Then he begins to talk about how your script needs red herrings and second act plot twists, a wink wink nudge nudge to the audience that made me smile. Because at this moment, you’re beginning to wonder if the creepy Olyphant is just the kind of red herring he is describing. Or is it Chris Hemsworth, playing an appropriately creepy half of a hippie hitchhiking duo, who is next seen, of course, wearing a RED headband. As Zahn and Jovovich continue to travel with Olyphant and his girlfriend (who is first shown to us completely nude on a raft, though from the side, so the best you get is full-body side-boob and side-ass, LOST fans), we learn more about Olyphant and the evidence starts stacking in his favor of being the killer. Twohy does a good job of framing many of these conversations tightly, leaving the audience to wonder just what’s outside the frame, and thus making it easy to throw in a jump-scare (don’t worry, there’s only one and its quite effective). Once Olyphant begins to talk about past covert operations, or when he starts putting together unknown weapons while talking, you start thinking “is this the moment all hell is going to break loose?” But then Twohy will throw in another conversation about filmmaking to lighten things up. Or in one case, a talk about comic books, specifically Silver Age Marvel characters and a certain Iraqi dictator’s obsession with them. And then suddenly the next time Chris Hemsworth shows up, he is imposing and threatening, angry over an earlier altercation with Steve Zahn. You’re really not sure who to trust, and just when you think you’ve figured out who the killer is, another twist comes up that keeps you guessing. Twohy loves to keep us on our toes, especially with repeated lines like “He’s *really* hard to kill,” (dunn dunn DUNN) that one female uses to describe her male counterpart, potentially foreshadowing an expected third act in which the chases begin. This brings me to the big Second Act twist that Olyphant and Zahn discuss earlier in their screenwriting conversation. I won’t give anything away, but I will say that I think the reveal is mishandled. With the twist comes a very long black and white flashback sequence that explains who these characters are, where they come from, and why they do what they do. My problem with it is that A. Its WAY too long. I could feel the audience at one point start fidgeting, ready to move on to the big chase now that we know who the killers are. And B. It doesn’t flashback to any earlier lines of dialogue that confirm the twist, that deepen our understanding of earlier clues. Instead, its all new footage. What could have been a moment that has us going “Ohhh yeaaah! NOW I see why he said that, or why she did this,” because they repeat an earlier scene but now with new context, is instead a bunch of new scenes that still left me confused by the end. Why? Because once the killers are revealed, your mind is scrambling backward to remember the clues that were placed before you, but there are no flashbacks like in “The Usual Suspects” or “The Sixth Sense” to help you along. And once the Third Act begins, its the obligatory chase. But its fun, because at this point, you are invested in the characters and you don’t want to see them killed. And then Twohy’s style changes up, and he does some really weird things. Like at one point the characters are chasing each other around, and there are some strange edits; split-screens that look like comic book panels pushing each other out of the frame, fighting for attention. It made me laugh a bit. And when the climax came, I was afraid Twohy was going to go in a direction that would have certainly left a bad-taste in the audience’s mouth, which is funny because Olyphant and Zahn had a discussion about movie endings, and... well... that would be spoiling it. So look, here’s the thing. Its a thriller that, while not being wholly original, is highly entertaining thanks to its self-referential, though not over-the-top nature, its geek-pleasing discussions on film structure and comic books, its surprising level of humor (which continues even throughout the third act), and its respect for the audience. And its a crowd-pleaser. The audience I saw it with gasped and laughed at all the right parts, and even cheered toward the end with the appearance of a specific character. The Good -Timothy Olyphant; I always love this guy -Timothy Olyphant’s funny Nicolas Cage impression (no doubt formed during their time together on “Gone in 60 Seconds”) -Kiele Sanchez’s naked body
-A reverse shot of Milla Jovovich’s half-naked body -A reverse shot of Timothy Olyphant’s naked body (if you’re a female or into that sorta thing, that is) -Chris Hemsworth doing more than going down with a Federation Starship -The movie talk -The comic book talk -The buildup of suspense to keep you guessing the killers’ identities -A first glance at how Thor might look The Bad -The overly long 3rd act flashback reveal -The usually lovable Steve Zahn being sort of a dick through the first act (I didn’t touch on this, but he’s kinda standoffish at first) -Only one instance where a character has a chance to finish off the killer but chooses to (stupidly) run off instead *smacks forehead*. The Weird -The comic-book panel wipes during a chase toward the end -The odd moments of humor -Kiele Sanchez’s “southern” accent (which comes and goes) -No mention of a four-toed statue or the crash of Flight 815 on the island “A Perfect Getaway” is a fun movie. I didn’t pay for it tonight, but if I had, I would have been satisfied. If you’re looking for something other than GI JOE this weekend (bc you think it looks stupid or you just don’t like Sommers), might I suggest you give Twohy some support and check out his new flick. Twohy’s always entertained me, and I hope this does well. I look forward to more work from him in the future. Now, give in to the Dark Side and trash me and my review in the talkbacks, fellow geeks! You know you want to! D.Vader =D