The movie Getaway ends up as one huge car wreck. The “thriller” stars Ethan Hawke as former race car driver Brent Magna, and Selena Gomez as the girl-who-shall-not-be-named. It starts out in first person – we watch as the scenes flicker between Brent viewing signs of a kidnapping and the actual kidnapping; the scene then cuts to the first of several car chases.
On the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria, an “evil” voice (Jon Voight) with a heavy accent dictates directions through the vamped-up Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake’s car phone. The mysterious voice states that if Magna does not follow his orders exactly, he will murder his wife. The villain has installed cameras all over the car, which are used to give viewers grainy views of the destruction that ensues. The voice’s directions, and the entire movie for that matter, are one cliché after another. Magna’s orders are to create as much mayhem as possible; this meant out-driving the Bulgarian police, causing cars to flip, burn, crash, and more. But honestly, once you’ve seen one car chase in the movie, you’ve seen them all. Viewers are forced to sit and watch many dizzying chases. The director, Courtney Solomon, cuts from scene to scene constantly, and from fuzzy focus to high definition, making it almost nauseating to watch.
Then comes along Gomez, who plays what my friend calls, a Mary Sue. She just happens to be in the right place at the right time and shoves a gun in Magna’s face, telling him she wants her car back. He then proceeds to drag her into the car, take the gun, and then is told by the voice to kill her. “I’m not a killer,” he replies, which is almost funny because he probably already killed twenty people. But of course, since he loves his wife and is doing everything against his will, putting aside the fact that he’s done bad things in the past, he’s a good man. The girl-who-cannot-be-named turns out to be very clever, computer-savvy, beautiful, rich, knowledgeable about cars, and tough. And while her character is used to move the plot along, the way Hawke and Gomez banter and swear at each other, with the addition of the voice, makes the dialogue somewhat enjoyable.
Getaway is one of many movies that are made so viewers can just give their brains up to mindless action. With car chase after car chase, they end up becoming unexciting even though each one is kicked up a notch. The script is mediocre at best and all in all, it is a very forgettable movie that isn’t worth your money.
