''A Perfect Getaway'' is a 2009 American thriller film written and directed by

David Twohy David Neil Twohy ( ; born October 18, 1955) is an American film director and screenwriter. Early life Twohy was born in Los Angeles County, California. He attended college at California State University, Long Beach, graduating with a degree in ...

and starring Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich,

Kiele Sanchez Kiele Michelle Sanchez ( ; born October 13, 1977) is an American actress who starred in the A&E Network drama '' The Glades''. Previously, she had starred as Anne Sorelli in The WB comedy-drama ''Related'' and as Nikki Fernandez on the main cast ...

, and

Steve Zahn Steven James Zahn (; born November 13, 1967) is an American actor and comedian. His film roles include ''Reality Bites'' (1994), ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996), ''Stuart Little'' (1999), '' Shattered Glass'' (2003), ''Sahara'' (2005), '' Chicken Li ...

. Olyphant, Jovovich, Sanchez, and Zahn portray a group of vacationing couples in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

who find their lives in danger when murders begin to occur on the island, leading to suspicions over one of the couples being the killers. Shot in Hawaii and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, ''A Perfect Getaway'' was released on August 7, 2009, in the United States. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $22 million on a $14 million budget.

Plot

For their honeymoon, newlyweds Cliff and Cydney travel to

. After making a travel video in the car, the two spend the night in a hotel before driving off in order to start hiking towards a remote beach. Whilst in the car, the two encounter fellow couple; kind-hearted Cleo who attempts to hitchhike with them and hot-headed Kale who takes Cleo away from the two. On the hike, they are befriended by tourist Nick and his girlfriend Gina. Nick and Gina accompany Cliff and Cydney in their journey, but tensions begin to arise in the group when a double homicide of an unidentified couple is reported in the area, with a man and woman being suspected as the killers. The two couples arrive at a waterfall where Kale and Cleo happen to be also, Kale makes vague threats to Cydney which seemingly worries Cliff. Nick also discovers that Cliff is a screenwriter and attempts to convince him to have a movie made of him - for he was a soldier and had his skull crushed in but survived thanks to an operation where metal plates were put in his head. Cliff lets Nick continue on about this throughout the journey despite not intending to make a movie on it. After moving on, the four go deeper into the jungle and become wary of each other due to the reported murders. The tensions, however, die down after the four witness Kale and Cleo being arrested for the murders after some teeth were found in Kale's backpack. Arriving at their destination, Cliff convinces Nick to explore a marine cave with him while Cydney and Gina wait behind on the beach. Gina looks through photos at a camera before suddenly screaming at Nick and Cliff, however they ignore her and she begins to scale a cliff after them with Cydney in pursuit. Once alone with Cliff in the cave, Nick realizes that he has been tricked as Cliff draws a gun. It is revealed that the real Cliff and Cydney were the unidentified victims of the double homicide, murdered by their impostors. The impostor Cliff is Rocky, the high school boyfriend of the imposter Cydney, and the two are meth addicts and have been committing the murders to assume the identities of their victims - getting the victims life stories by pretending to be scriptwriters. Gina, who saw the wedding photos with the real Cliff and Cydney, witnesses Rocky shoot Nick and attempts to escape. After fighting off Cliff, but being stabbed and shot, Gina runs into the jungle. Rocky tells his girlfriend to mislead the police about the transpiring events while he chases after Gina. Gina finds some men but Rocky kills them all and seriously injures Gina before she manages to escape. Rocky's pursuit of Gina is stopped by the emergence of Nick, who survived the gunshot due to the previously mentioned metal plates. Nick gains the upper hand and holds Rocky at gunpoint, but a police helicopter contacted by Rocky's girlfriend arrives on the scene, warning Nick that he will be shot if he does not release Rocky. As Rocky tries to goad Nick into killing him, Gina gets Nick to back down. Realizing that she can stop Rocky, who is extremely abusive, and save two people who love each other, Rocky's girlfriend admits that Rocky is the murderer, prompting the police to shoot him when he tries to retrieve his gun. Travelling back on a helicopter, Nick proposes to Gina. Gina accepts, with the two mutually agreeing not to go on a honeymoon.

Cast

as Cliff Anderson / Rocky * Timothy Olyphant as Nick Bennett * Milla Jovovich as Cydney Anderson *

as Gina Stone * Marley Shelton as Cleo *

Chris Hemsworth Christopher Hemsworth (born 11 August 1983) is an Australian actor. He rose to prominence playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series ''Home and Away'' (2004–2007) before beginning a film career in Hollywood. In the Marvel Cinemat ...

as Kale Garrity Additionally,

Anthony Ruivivar Anthony Michael Ruivivar (born ) is an American actor. He is known for playing Carlos Nieto on ''Third Watch'' and Alex Longshadow on ''Banshee''. He also voiced Batman on ''Beware the Batman''. Early life and education Ruivivar was born in Ho ...

plays Chronic, a guide, and

Dale Dickey Diana Dale Dickey (born September 29, 1961) is an American character actress who has worked in theater, film, and television. She began her career on stage, performing in the 1989 Broadway version of ''The Merchant of Venice'', before appearing ...

and

Peter Tuiasosopo Peter "Navy" Tuiasosopo (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor known for his roles as E. Honda in Universal Pictures ''Street Fighter'' and Manumana in the Paramount Pictures film '' Necessary Roughness''. He also played custodian Yoshi Nakamur ...

appear as convenience store employees Earth Momma and Supply Guy. Holt McCallany and Isaac Santiago portray the police lieutenant and the police shooter, while Tory Kittles plays Sherman, one of the kayakers. The real Cliff and Cydney, referred to in the credits as "Groom" and "Bride", are portrayed by Ryan Gessell and Evelyn Lopez.

Soundtrack

#"Hey, Hey, Hey" — Tracy Adams #"Paradise" — RooHub #"Need Your Love" — Aswad #"Boom Chic Boom Chic" — Tracy Adams #"Red Dress Baby Doll" — Tracy Adams #"Ghetto Chronic" — Tracy Adams #"The Wretched" — Nine Inch Nails #" I'm Yours" —

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

Marketing

The film was promoted with several videos posted to YouTube. The reports, attributed to the fictional news agency Global Digital News created by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, detailed a string of homicides targeting honeymooning couples. They were posted to a YouTube channel designed to look like a local news station.

Release

The film was released in the United States on August 7, 2009 and grossed $5,948,555 in its opening weekend. The film made £418,703 in its first week in the United Kingdom and reached number 10 at the UK box office. Worldwide, it grossed $22,852,638. The unrated director's cut DVD and Blu-ray were released on December 29, 2009.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 138 reviews, with an average rating 5.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "While smarter than the average slasher film, ''A Perfect Getaway'' eventually devolves into a standard, predictable, excessively violent thriller."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' referred to the film as a "genuinely satisfying cheap thrill". More mixed reviews include the '' Times Online'', which gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, adding that it is a "smart" thriller but is a "little too tricky for its own good". Additionally, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' rated the film 60% and said that the film is a "flawed but entertaining thriller". Michael Phillips gave the film 2 1/2 stars (out of four) and stated that ''A Perfect Getaway'' "has the fortitude to venture off the beaten path of formula." Timothy Olyphant was the first runner-up for Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect Getaway 2009 films 2009 crime thriller films 2009 psychological thriller films American crime thriller films American psychological thriller films Films about murderers Films directed by David Twohy Films set in Hawaii Films set on beaches Films set on islands Films shot in Hawaii QED International films Relativity Media films Rogue (company) films Films with screenplays by David Twohy 2000s survival films American slasher films 2000s slasher films Films shot in Puerto Rico Films about honeymoon 2000s English-language films 2000s American films