A Perfect Getaway – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Begrudgingly, I must outright say that there are too many things wrong with A Perfect Getaway. From the ads, it looked like a generic thriller with a decent cast, but it winded up being an exercise in tedium; a slow, direction-less thriller. In itself, that’s a key problem. Thrillers are meant to keep us intrigued, or on the edge-of-our-seat, but A Perfect Getaway might bring some viewers to sleep. None of this should have happened. The film’s director, David Twohy, has been quiet since Chronicles of Riddick was met with a lukewarm reception from critics, audiences, and even the studio five whole years ago, but in this reviewer’s opinion, that was a good film. His eye has left him here, another sad problem for this film, crafting an ugly looking film.

So what I meant by begrudgingly, is that I didn’t want to sound off on A Perfect Getaway, since I have enjoyed most of Twohy’s films. I wanted to rally behind this thriller, and thus I cannot. I’m sorry, Mr. Twohy.

The film follows three couples. One is the idealistic newly weds (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich), who are going on their honeymoon here. Another couple (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez) are vacationing too, but something seems slightly off about them. The final couple, there clearly is something wrong with them, and our foils to the cute newly weds. Everyone will clash, nobody will trust nobody.

But there is a catch. Steve Zahn’s character of Cliff is a screenwriter. Finding this out, Olyphant’s character Nick, and he is kind of opportunistic. They start rattling off ideas for a screenplay, and Nick misuses the word of “red herrings” by calling it “red snappers”. Cliff kindly corrects him. So now the film becomes self-aware, and this should be your clue to something is amidst. Fine, it’s a thriller, and this is what thriller’s do. Now, Alfred Hitchcock might be the master of red herrings, only because he can always give us a trail of bread crumbs, roping us into the mystery, slowly, but keeping the twist or the said mystery secret, until he is ready to reveal it. Twohy haphazardly handles this, possibly knowing that he wasn’t leaving bread crumbs, he spins everything a complete 180 degrees. If you get the twist before hand, fine, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the way the twist is revealed. He showcases all of the stuff leading up to it, in a black and white flashback sequence that is way too long, and quite frankly, unbelievable. Getting back to Hitch, he uses the bread crumbs also to allow a reference point of the twist. He never just provides the twist, there was a reason. The twist is only there because Hollywood is twist happy. It’s too-on-the-nose, self-referential, hurting the already limp film.

Sometimes a film is savable, even with a weak twist, due to interesting characters or set up. A Perfect Getaway is full of schmucks and stereotypes, all of which are placed in a droll set up. Not much goes on, outside of talk that is just time filler. It’s a lazy thriller, with unlikable characters, and some ugly cinematography. I thought this was a “paradise”? I’m sorry, Mr. Twohy, but when is Riddick coming back? Soon I hope.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Universal is continually making great high def discs, and this title is no different. Like I mentioned in the review, Twohy shot the film in a beautiful location, yet the film still looks ugly. Well, if you know what you’re looking for, you can appreciate this transfer. Blacks are strong, clarity high, details sharp, and there’s a scene towards the end of the film, featuring some breath-taking landscape, and that’s where the high def transfer shines. Too bad, Twohy didn’t take that into consideration when he mapped out cinematography. Oh well, everything looks good.

The DTS track while solid-what DTS track isn’t?-but the film has a rather flat sound design, borderline stereo sounding. So expect little ambiance or rear speaker activity. You can’t blame the disc, since everything is clear and precise.

Director’s Cut: Twohy is nowhere to help us, but if memory serves me well, we get mostly some extended bits towards the end, that doesn’t make the film any better. Think of this, as an extended cut rather than anything full-fledged director cut.

Alternate Ending: In HD, running 2 minutes, it’s very hard to know why this is different. Too bad we don’t get an optional commentary track to help.

Trailers, D-Box enabled, and some BD-Live material rounds out the slim extras.

Conclusion: The lack of extras and Twohy, represents the failed box office returns for this thriller. A few things were in place to make this a neat thriller, but it all falls down flat on it’s face.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: