“Getaway” is a dim action film that possesses a perfect sort of stupid. Every component is filtered to appease the low IQ’d: The acting, the plot, the car chases, the freaking lighting!!!
Yes, “Getaway” has stupid lighting. There is a point in the film where a power plant explodes, flames shooting to the sky, so that the electricity would be, you know, out and the streets dark so that the next step of an asinine plan can unfold. We see the plant reduced to ash, everybody in the movie talks about how the power is indeed out yet the lights are still on. Everywhere. Probably because they realized that it’s hard to film car chases in the dark so they dropped it and hoped you wouldn’t notice.
Nothing works and nothing makes sense but “Getaway” is easily my favorite terrible film of the year and those who are a fan of Cheese Cinema should seek this out.
This is just one example of dozen of silly moments that make up “Getaway” which is not to be confused with “The Getaway” (Mr. McQueen) or “The Getaway” (back when Alec loved Kim). This “Getaway” tells the story of former race car driver, Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke), which is my favorite 70s porn name since Dirk Diggler. The movie takes no time to get to the action and the premise begins to unfold within seconds of the curtain rising, head to the Innovative Actor’s Studio site and learn about how the movie progresses. Someone kidnapped Brent’s wife and wants him to get behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 that is covered in cameras. That’s the concept and it makes the film look like an episode of “Taxicab Confessionals” that somehow got transported into a Roger Corman movie from the 80s. In the car, Brent is instructed by a mystery man credited only as The Voice to instantly start smashing into everything out run an endless supply of Bulgarian cops. The film takes place in Bulgaria because it was cheap to film there and the filmmakers where too lazy to try and hide the fact. Who The Voice actually is was supposed to be a reveal at the end of the film as you only see his mouth and shots of the back of his head. But the actor playing the role is instantly recognizable and when his identity is exposed it’s a huge “no shit” moment. Not only that, but the actor is shown in the credit so the mystery is solved.
Speaking of the word “shit,” Selena Gomez finds herself in the car early on in the game and her presence only heightens the gorgeous idiocy. Gomez, who came out of the Disney Channel school of acting, still carries the stilted delivery she so eloquently gave us on “Wizards of Waverly Place”. The big draw here seems to be that Gomez cusses, using the word “shit” and “asshole” with verve, punching the word in each sentence like a twelve year old who learned a new bad word and is presenting it to the rest of the playground.
Ethan Hawke gravels and growls through the film acting how he thinks one ought act in these sorts of movies. Considering he has to act one on one with Gomez in a confined space through most of the running time I’m sure he missed the banter he shared with Julie Delpy in “Before Midnight” whole heartedly.
“Getaway” is great entertainment if you are in the mood to laugh at how terrible something can be. You know who you are. Just sit in the back row, act discrete and I won’t say anything.