A Perfect Getaway

Up until now, this film had passed me by from quite a distance. After watching it, that fact really stings. A very likable cast with a tightly written story and a script without holes? That already indicates that viewers won’t be bored. And I definitely wasn’t—on the contrary, I was royally entertained. The first half-hour serves as a nice introduction, and even in those moments, I was already trying to guess which couple would end up being the killers. The story ran like clockwork, and the tension thickened with every passing minute, which is exactly what you want. I also want to praise the chosen setting because the Hawaiian Islands, with their beautiful nature, worked perfectly as a contrast to the chilling atmosphere. Steve Zahn is usually a comedic actor for me, but the fact that he played a meth-addicted, murderous maniac so well? I wouldn’t have expected that from him. The rest of the cast also did their part as they should. The last 15 minutes were full of heart-stopping moments where you were really rooting for the "normal" couple to make it to the end unscathed. For a smaller budget, this was a fantastic result. More films like this, please. I give it 79%. (30/05/2017)

A fantastic hit and one of the biggest surprises of the year. After a series of flops (which were more or less his own fault), Twohy manned up and made a terrific thriller that feels like Hitchcock came back from the dead and went to Hawaii to make another of his classics. A calm romantic introduction outlines the characters, only to be followed by a fairly unoriginal (those who have been watching will remain calm) twist and a perfect final half hour, which (also thanks to the music) is an absolutely crazy sprint full of exaggeration (skull-cracking) and undying adrenaline. The replacement Zahn and a decently acting Milla work well, but Timothy Olyphant is an otherworldly tough guy who can high-five Woody Harrelson for the sharpest tough guy of the fall season. 4 ½. (04/11/2009)

The second half of the film seemed weaker due to weird pointless dialogue, and the ending had a similar effect on me. It’s a shame. The first half of the film had a great atmosphere of paranoia. The fast action scenes that followed undid everything that the script had previously carefully built up. Gina, who can take care of herself in case of danger according to Nick, gave me the impression that if she got a gun to defend herself, she would probably throw it at the aggressor and run off to the jungle. (07/12/2016)

Quite solid, until the awkward and jaded twist, the audience doesn't know who is who and what is what. Unfortunately, the final action-packed 20 minutes completely destroyed my positive opinion of this film. The natural setting is good, and so is the work with it. The performances are decent, especially Timothy Olyphant, who is quite sharp. However, as I already mentioned, the twist is absolutely pointless. (02/01/2010)

This film was definitely not as pleasant a surprise for me as I had hoped. The whole plot was predictable, and because of that, it felt poorly executed and poorly anchored, where what was presented at the beginning didn't match what was happening, but not in a way that deceives the viewer like The Sixth Sense, but rather just plays a game with them, which in my opinion doesn't work. (14/04/2016)