Synopsis:

Two pairs of lovers (Zahn & Jovovich, Olyphant & Sanchez) on a Hawaiian vacation discover that psychopaths are stalking and murdering tourists on the islands.

The Freak's Rating: B+ : A Perfect Getaway is nearly ruined by the trailer, so if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and don't.  With lines uttered like "everyone will be talking about...", etc..., the studios should have thought twice before approving it for release.  I'm sure some filmgoers did attend based solely on those lines, but quite honestly it didn't need much more than the basic plot explained to have mass appeal.

Suspense thrillers are a genre captialized upon since somewhere around 1994.  Everyone has their opinions on what films started it all, but I vote for the films Dead Again and Sleeping With The Enemy as some of the early successful films.  The 1980s were filled with violent franchises such as A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th and Halloween.  With few exceptions, the aforementioned franchises focused on violent death scenes and jumpy moments rather than truly frightening moments.  Rob Zombie has regenerated the horror genre with his recent takes on Halloween and his ventures into true horror with The Devil's Rejects and House Of 1,000 Corpses.  If you ask me, this guy REALLY knows how to scare you.  Though never pretending to be horror, A Perfect Getaway does a fantastic job of achieving true suspense on film, a feat not easy to accomplish.

Casting is nicely done here, with screen regular Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn and Timothy Olyphant (of HBO's Deadwood) pitch perfect in their roles.  Writing is extremely clever throughout the film, allowing good bonding of characters and only a few small hiccups in continuity.

More development on one of the sets of couples was needed desperately, virtually eliminating them as suspects from the start.  There are also a few clues that point your thoughts one direction or another a tad too obviously for my taste.  Though I didn't know the entire ending of the film, I was pretty close.  Tightening up these holes would have easily shot this into the A range.

A Perfect Getaway almost demands a new rating on the site.  On this site, we say A films are "Amazing, worth owning and watching again".  Though I wouldn't say this film is amazing, it nearly demands a purchase for a repeat viewing if on sale.  It also has a decent shelf life and would be a nice go to for a film to watch with friends/family who haven't seen it, strictly for entertainment value.  I left the theater semi-impressed, but after a day or so of digesting the film, I found myself wanting to watch it again to see if I could pickup on clues I may have missed the first time around.  I'd guess you'll do the same.

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