Getaway (2013)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 90 minutes
Directed by: Courtney Solomon
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight, Rebecca Budig, Paul Freeman, Bruce Payne
KRS release
Ethan Hawke plays Brent Magna, a former race-car driver who ended up giving his services to the highest bidder. This had led him to do things against the law.
Now he is retired and living peacefully with his wife Leanne (Rebecca Budig). But his life changes drastically on Christmas Day.
He arrives home to find the place ransacked and his wife gone. He receives a phone call from someone who calls himself The Voice (Jon Voight) and Brent is to either follow his instructions or else Leanne will wind up dead.
His first job is to steal a Shelby Cobra and get the police to chase him all over town. The wild goose chase is recorded via the cameras installed on the car and The Voice continues to give him instructions.
Enter The Kid (Selena Gomez), who looks as if she had been trying to hijack his car and The Voice orders him to take her with him. The commands keep on coming but Brent and The Kid start to become allies; maybe he will get to save his wife and also realise why he is being used as bait in this dangerous chase across the city.
Getaway is one big car chase mixed with heist and revenge motifs. Imagine the car chase sequence in 1998’s Ronin but filmed at night. The film borrows and plunders from various action movies, including the villain – who seems to have been molded from the villains of the Die Hard franchise – and a hero who is knowingly playing second fiddle to this film’s true main star – the Shelby Cobra.
Getaway will mostly appeal to action fans who love to see movies with plenty of car chases or to video game enthusiasts. As it is, this film is a stuntman’s dream as the car and its occupants go through a myriad of over-the-top sequences. The difference between this picture and the Fast and Furious films is that this one takes itself seriously and has none of the tongue-in-cheek attitude of the popular franchise.
Courtney Solomon is a director with plenty of action B-movies up his sleeve. He was a producer on Bullet to the Head (2012) and El Gringo (2012) and he directed Dungeons & Dragons (2000) and An American Haunting (2005).
The film is directed in a fast-paced manner and will leave its audience breathless. Those who love the sound of a car revving up will find this to be quite heavenly.
Everything, including the cast, takes second place to the action shenanigans that this B-movie offers up in spades. The story is kept simple and straightforward as the focus is on speed and reaching the next objective.
The camera provides a variety of angles in and outside the car to offer car aficionados an immersive experience.