Star Scene

By Ian Gibson

Dashing young couples, fear-inducing murders, beautiful but stranded locales – each of these are ingredients for the standard vacation-horror movie. Perfect Getaway, the latest addition to this tired genre, meets these bland criteria in full yet still manages to provide entertainment worthy of the ticket price.

Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovitch star in Perfect Getaway as a honeymooning couple enjoying their youthful romance in Hawaii. As they set-off on their backpacking adventure, they hear of a brutal murder committed by an on-the-run, Bonnie and Clyde duo. Supporting characters create fear and tension as the identity of the killers and the safety of the stranded hikers is constantly put into question. Though somewhat formulaic in description, the plot serves only as a starting point for what turns out to be quite a unique movie.

What makes Perfect Getaway such a fantastically enjoyable experience is the metaphysical manner in which it treats cinema and itself. From very early in the story, the viewer is fed little tastes and teases that serve to undermine nearly every element of the movie. The act of watching becomes an influence upon the film itself, setting an odd sort of Heisenberg relationship that only serves to heighten the viewing experience. Though it never actually breaks the fourth wall, Perfect Getaway’s subversive commentary on the genre it occupies creates the sort of mind distortion the characters themselves are going through.

Perfect Getaway doesn’t exactly live up to its namesake, however, as it does have a handful of flaws. Several stereotypical moments and an awfully stale ending mar what is an otherwise refreshingly original movie. Even though the film takes a good amount of cinematic risks (many of which pay off in full), its overall tone makes clear that it hasn’t broken fully from the trash-filled horror genre.

As a cinematic experience surprising in its creativity and riveting in its mind-play, Perfect Getaway is a movie that thinks outside the Hollywood box in an immensely fascinating manner.