David Twohy shows how to deliver the perfect escapist thriller movie.
Budget – Don’t throw money at it, necessity begets ingenuity.
Apparently Hollywood’s got money to burn. So much in fact that they’ll throw hundreds of millions of dollars at movies based on toys from yesteryear (Viewmaster, huh?). The sad fact is that the bigger the budget the less likely that it will be any good. Creativity and the pressure of a huge summer blockbuster usually don’t mix. With a paltry $14M, Twohy used every penny wisely and came up with ingenious ways to tell his story.
Casting – Don’t spend $50M on casting, just get the right people for the right roles.
Instead of trying to get the biggest names he could of who’s ‘so hot right now’ or whose face would ‘put asses in the seats’, they actually cast the actors based on talent; thinking of who the characters are and who could represent them best. Milla Jovovich and Tim Olyphant are not ‘A-list’ celebs, but they are damn fine at what they do, and they do it so very well without breaking your producer’s pocketbook. Steve Zahn’s portrayal of the bumbling everyman is endearing, and support from Kiele Sanchez is both seductive and disturbing.
Setting – Want an awesome setting? Go and shoot in an awesome location.
Whether it’s Danny Boyle’s The Beach (which we just watched for the sake of an adaptation discussion) or the TV show Lost, there are places on this planet of ours that are beautiful and charismatic. You don’t necessarily need to spend millions on set construction, or even creating an entire planet and scenery in the CGI department (I’m looking at you, George Lucas). Hawaii is one of those places and the scenery and locales worked so very well to make it a gorgeous and compelling character in and of itself.
Writing – Tell a story that makes sense, make it tight.
He specifically told you what was going to happen with the ‘Red Snapper’, he even warned you about the ‘twist’ in the second act. Making one of the characters a screenplay writer (we call them ‘screenwriters’) and calling out the audience to think about what they are watching and toying with those notions was nothing short of brilliant. Not only is the story is intriguing and plausible, but it also doesn’t require hours of expository or any unusual suspension of disbelief. Most importantly it doesn’t cater to the lowest common denominator and actually dares to challenge the audience rather than dumb it down for them. Finally, Twohy made sure to tie up all the loose ends so that there are no accidental cliffhangers (pun intended) or huge gaping plotholes for you to trip over.
Dialogue – Make it suitable for the characters, *and* the audience.
I’m not sure exactly when Twohy decided to get all Tarantino with his witty repartee, but he found a voice for each of the characters and stuck with it. Pop culture references, clever banter between protagonist and antagonist, and anecdotes by the characters that gave insight into their thoughts and motivations all without sounding forced and tacked on. Interesting, insightful and (gods forbid) entertaining to follow along and listen to, advancing the plot and characterizing the flick.
Effects – Keep the effects reasonable for the scene, and the movie.
The ‘zoetrope’ effect on the chase scene was brilliant and all it took was some interesting editing choices to make a 10 second run through the jungle memorable and exciting. The ‘whitewash’ of the flashbacks was almost photo-negative and so very stylish; shocking in it’s clarity both in revelation of the plot and visually. There was no superfluous gore for the sake of simple overused shock value, simply realistic action and repercussions of one person attacking another.
Resist Cliches – Avoid bad cliches like the plague.
You know those scenes you see so often that you assume there must be a rule somewhere that they *must* be used? Running through the jungle chase scene with shaky cam and plants smacking off the camera. ‘Twist endings’ just for the hell of it without any previous hint that it was going to happen or any explicable reason for it. That omnipotence that we the audience have and are somehow able to see and hear everything that happens in and around our heroes in perfect clarity. Well, this movie thankfully doesn’t have any of them and goes out of it’s way to defy mundane convention.
Bottom Line:
I went into this flick looking for the exact opposite of G.I. Joe (regardless of whether it’s good or bad). I didn’t want to turn my brain off for an hour and a half and leave the theatre saying, “You know, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.” If it wasn’t for Twohy’s name attached to this picture I probably wouldn’t have seen it at all, as it was barely advertised and is below the radar of the general populous. The amount of people who are going to see this movie is analogous to the amount of people who make it to the secluded beach pictured in the movie; a lucky few who are going to enjoy something practically hidden, and yet profoundly satisfying. That’s alright though, as they don’t need to dupe a million people into shelling out their hard earned cash at the box office, just entertain enough intelligent people looking for A Perfect Getaway.
Written & Directed by: David Twohy
Rating: R for graphic violence, language including sexual references and some drug use.
Starring: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Chris Hemsworth, Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant and Marley Shelton.
Release Date: 14th August 2009
