Getaway (Movie Review)

Rating:

The “1-4-0″: #TheGetaway isn’t as bad as critics say. Yes, it has wild leaps of logic, but its escapism does entertain with its skilled car stunts.

The Gist: With a Shelby GT500 in tow, Ethan Hawke has to obey the criminal instructions of a voice in order to recover his kidnapped wife. Selena Gomez plays his innocent accessory.

The Highlights: This escapist B thriller is a mix between the movies Drive and Fast and Furious. Director Courtney Solomon revolves the movie around highly creative car stunt choreography that is a visual delight and doesn’t really get tiring. He’s also a director who has an artistic eye. With fluid dissolves and fades, plentiful car chases and bullet fire, it all crescendos into the final mesmerizing sequence that has the camera chasing a Mercedes SUV for five minutes. It is very reminiscent of the French film ” C’était rendez -vous ” by Claude Lelouch from 1976.

The Lowlights: “Getaway” is an insult to the human intelligence; the profuse gaps of rationality are to be laughed at. This movie is the perfect example of how to not write a script, yet, perhaps this is the reason this particular film works. Film is art and entertainment and directors sometimes separate these two features to achieve a result. In this case, Getaway is simple escapism, where the idea is to leave your brain at the door and ingest straightforward plots and dialogue that don’t bother with standard structure of complex details of character and story. Absurd movies usually are flops, but this one is well done with a capable cast of big names. Taken and Unknown are good examples of anomalies in the genre.

Pay or Nay?: Pay for it because it is a watchable film. But it is interesting that although its defects are evident, the film still manages to flow swiftly from scene to scene providing enough entertainment to distract you for a good hour and a half. Getaway doesn’t pretend to be ambitious or cool, just to engage you enough to steal your $15 per ticket! Part of the charm of the B thriller genre is its corniness which really does make you chuckle.

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