GetAWAY Review: A Fun If Generic Slasher Film

Release date: December 22, 2020 (Digital)
Running time: 82 minutes
Starring:  Emma Norville, Danielle Carrozza, Kyle Mangold 
Written and Directed By: Blayne Weaver

Devastated by a sudden break-up, young actress Maddie needs a getaway from campus to help mend her broken heart. Her best friend lands her a role in the student slasher flick shooting this weekend at a camp deep in the Virginia forest. It’s the perfect place to unwind, but no matter how far into the woods she goes, her problems keep sneaking up behind her. Before the film’s crew can shoot their first frame, their production gains an unwelcome new crew member . . . and he’s out for blood! Props go missing, equipment is stolen, and the bodies pile up. A crazed maniac has zeroed in on the students of this film class, but nothing is truly as it seems in GetAWAY. The cast and crew turn on each other as they fight for their lives trying to escape the slaughter. And the bloodthirsty psychopath shoots each grisly demise for his own perverted movie. 

GetAWAY starts off right with a classic slasher film opening that is a fun compilation of the genre's history.  And the film definitely has a love of the genre.  There are some funny scenes in the opening that have film students dissing on various film and genre standards that will have anyone who follows the industry laughing.  And the movie is set with film students which is a nice touch as the entire film does feel like a fun film school project.  As you would expect with that type of setup, there is some overacting but it is not too distracting.  The cast pulls together a lot of different characters and personalities, which makes for a generally entertaining experience.  But it also means that when people start falling there is less of an impact because I didn't get too attached to many of them.

However, GetAWAY feels very indie.  The effects are so so and the overall film has a film project feel.  That's not altogether a bad thing, but it does hurt the overall engagement of the film.  And the main issue with the film is that it is a slasher that just feels like it goes through the motions.  Most of the deaths are isolated and quick, there isn't much tension or fear to build up.  The only one like this was the very first death, which definitely felt like the most planned of them.  But the remaining deaths just feel like each scene is a person hears something, killer shows up, killer kills them, next scene.  There isn't much time to be scared because everything just happens so quickly and mechanically.  And the effects aren't that great either, so the level of gore doesn't elevate the otherwise by the book deaths.  And finally, the reveal didn't have much effect on me or really make sense.  It was a surprise, but again, I didn't feel that emotionally invested in the characters at that point and the story justification just felt tacked on.  

GetAWAY has a large cast of potential victims and an indie feel in this fun slasher picture, but the by the book deaths and lack of tension make this an experience you might want to pass on.. 

Pass on it.

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Weekend Box Office for August 30 - September 1: One Direction is #1

Morgan Spurlock's concert documentary, One Direction: This is Us, was the weekend's biggest movie with $17 million, a better debut than similar films focused on the Jonas Brothers and Katy Perry but worse than those for Justin Bieber ($33 million), Hannah Montana ($31 million) and Michael Jackson ($23 million). It's also grossed more than every other Morgan Spurlock film combined, no surprise considering their very limited releases and less mainstream subject matter. The next best performing new film was Spanish-language comedy Instructions Not Included, which opened at fifth and managed to make $7.5 million in only 374 theaters. Higher-profile limited release Closed Circuit only made about $2.5 million in 870 theaters. Getaway crashed into ninth place with $4.5 million.

The Butler, We're the Millers, and Planes took the third, fourth and fifth places. They and Elysium all experienced very minor drops of about 10% or less. In America, Millers should become the summer's second most successful comedy following The Heat. Percy Jackson had a low 16% drop. Though it's sure to disappoint domestically, it's reached $54 million and $137 million worldwide. Other interesting worldwide benchmarks include Pacific Rim reaching $400 million (only $100 million coming from America) and Jurassic Park breaking $1 billion with help from its 3D rerelease. See how other movies performed here.

8/3 Update: One Direction actually topped the 3-day weekend with only $15.8 million, and is expected to come in second to The Butler's $20 million throughout the entire Labor Day weekend. It had a big Friday and steadily dropped throughout the weekend, which seems to have skewed analysts' projections. See the 4-day Labor Day weekend estimates here.

Weekend box office estimates for August 30 - September 1:

1. One Direction: This is Us; $17,000,000; opening weekend

2. Lee Daniels' The Butler; $14,742,000; $74,007,000 total; -10.7%; 3rd weekend

3. We're the Millers; $12,610,000; $109,565,000 total; -3.4%; 4th weekend

4. Planes; $7,756,000; $70,844,000 total; -9.6%; 4th weekend

5. Instructions Not Included; $7,500,000; opening weekend

6. Elysium; $6,300,000; $78,404,000 total; -9.0%; 4th weekend

7. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; $5,200,000; $22,654,000 total; -44.3%; 2nd weekend

8. The World's End; $4,759,000; $16,568,000 total; 2nd weekend

9. Getaway; $4,505,000; opening weekend

10. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters; $4,425,000; $54,965,000 total; -16.1%; 4th weekend

Review: Getaway

Release date: August 30, 2013
Running time: 94 minutes
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight
Who to see it with: Someone who enjoys car crash stunts

Lee:

Getaway opens in Sofia, Bulgaria with former racer Brent Magna (Hawke) coming home and discovering his wife's been kidnapped. His only lead on her whereabouts is a mysterious caller (Voight) who tells Magna that his wife will remain safe only if he and a reluctant passenger (Gomez) perform a series of dangerous tasks using an armored, high-performance car. These tasks initially don't seem to make much sense and seem like an elaborate game. When his plan is fully revealed, the idea seems overly complicated and ill-advised.

The caller's crazy plan serves its purpose of allowing half of Getaway to focus on car chases. A series of car chases revolving around an insane plot could make for a solid B-movie. Unfortunately, the chase scenes are broken by constant, rapid cuts away from the action. I appreciate that it all looks real--the director says no CG was used--and there are lots of loud car crashes, but the choppy feel hurts their flow. The two heroes are the standard bickering team that bonds during their ordeal, but their relationship lacks much of the humor and charm shown by the leads of recent films like The Heat and White House Down. Hawke's character doesn't show much emotion outside of anger and frustration, and Gomez is fine as his tough-talking teen partner. Getaway has the elements of a fun action movie and an admirable lack of CG, but is trapped by its silly plot and heavily edited chase sequences.

Don't see it.