Perfect Getaway, A

Stars: Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth

Director: David Twohy

There are enough red herrings to fill a fair-sized fishing net in this chiller-thriller set in the more rugged parts of Hawaii. Jovovich and Zahn play honeymooners slightly perturbed by reports of two killers (a man and a woman) at large on the group of islands.

Still, they persist with their trip of a lifetime, though they are apprehensive about menacing hitchhikers Kyle and Chloe (Hemsworth, Shelton)) and end up not giving them a lift. The macho Nicky (Olyphant) does attach himself to them, though, leading them over some very dodgy-looking cliff paths to an idyllic waterfall lagoon where they meet his nubile girlfriend Gina (Sanchez). They camp together, although Nicky alarms them by killing a goat for food.

Almost nothing happens in the first hour, and, if you haven't guessed the predictable twist by now, you probably won't get it until near the end. As well as providing us with false expectations, the film cheats in ways impossible to explain without revealing the latter stages of action. Sanchez, finally getting a star role at 31, is the best thing in this eventually-exciting film.

David Quinlan

USA 2009. UK Distributor: Momentum. Technicolor.
97 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.

Review date: 08 Aug 2009