The film a detailed analysis and transcript of the finale A Perfect Getaway (2009): movie plot summary, detailed ending explanation, similar film.
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Detective, Adventure
Year of production: 2009
Directed by: David Twoey
Actors: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Chris Hemsworth
tagline: Everyone Needs A Place To Escape
Awards and Nominations: 2009 – Nominated for TFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Olyphant).
In 2009, David Twohy, director of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, presented a new picture. A Perfect Getaway follows a newlywed couple on a trip to the Hawaiian Islands, where a pair of serial killers decide to hide at the same time. The thriller received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers.
What is the movie about
To understand the essence of the film A Perfect Getaway will help a detailed analysis of its plot.
The thriller begins by cutting scenes from Cliff and Sidney Anderson’s wedding. The couple has fun with family and friends, receives gifts and announces that immediately after the celebration they are going on a honeymoon trip to Hawaii.
Milla Jovovich played the role of Sidney Anderson, while Steve Zahn starred as Cliff. Frame from the film.
Cliff and Sydney arrive on the island of Kauai, travel around the island by car and explore the area from a helicopter. They then decide to go hiking on the Kalalau trail. On the way to her, Cliff stops to pick up a young couple, Cleo and Cale. Sydney does not approve of his idea, so the guy has to lie and say that they are going to another place.
Traveling along the trail, the newlyweds meet a heavily built guy Nick and continue the journey together. Then they meet tourist girls, they report that a murder of newlyweds has occurred on the neighboring island of Oahu. According to the police, the criminals fled to Kauai.
Further on the plot of the film A Perfect Getaway, Nick plans to leave Cliff and Sydney, but they, noticing that Cleo and Cale, who arrived from Oahu, are moving in parallel with them, decide to change the route and go with the guy. Nick introduces them to his girlfriend Gina.
Cliff tries to pick up the mobile network and runs into Cale and Cleo. A conflict is brewing, but Nick appears, and it does not come to a collision. The Andersons, Nick and Gina decide to continue the journey together. Cliff inspects his belongings and finds no passes. He notices Cale’s backpack off to the side, rummaging through it, and finds a parole officer’s business card.
During the trip, Nick reveals that he is a former military man who has been in “hot spots”. He shows the scar on the back of his head and explains that it is a trace from a mine fragment. He survived because he was taken to the hospital in time, where a titanium plate was inserted into his head. The guy says that now the metal detector frame always reacts to him, but thanks to this he can carry his favorite combat knife with him in a case on his leg, after which he demonstrates the weapon.
Timothy Olyphant as Nick and Quile Sanchez as Gina. Frame from the film.
The Andersons are suspicious of Nick and Gina. They doubt whether to continue with them, but then they decide anyway, because Cale and Cleo, who are somewhere nearby, scare them more.
The company settles for the night. Nick suggests that Cliff go goat hunting to cook dinner. In the jungle, the men discuss their suspicions about each other about the fact that each of them could be a killer. Cliff then asks if they really came for the goats. Nick replies in the negative. From his explanation, it becomes clear that two people were following them. Cliff says he’s worried about the girls, but Nick replies that Gina can take care of herself and Sydney.
The men go to hunt down the pursuers. Nick moves forward, and Cliff discovers a fire, near which a young couple is visible. He runs into a man and finds out that he is the guy from the store where they bought groceries before the trip. He brought the passes that the Andersons forgot.
While the men are wandering in the jungle, the girls are chatting in the camp. Sydney shares with Gina a description of her future life with Cliff, and then tells the story of being separated from her parents and then meeting her first boyfriend, Rocky. At the end of the conversation, Sydney says that she has always been surprised by how much people talk about themselves on the road, especially to people they have just met.
Cliff returns to camp. Nick comes after him, having shot the goat. Gina demonstrates that she can butcher carcasses and explains that she once worked in a butcher’s shop. Late at night, the Andersons again discuss that their new acquaintances are very suspicious, but still hesitate to leave them.
Frame from the film.
A police helicopter circles over the company camp in the morning. The loudspeaker tells them to go outside. After examining the tourists, the law enforcement officers fly away and find Cale and Cleo a little further. The cops arrest them and, after checking their belongings, find evidence indicating that they committed the murder. The couple is put into a helicopter and it flies away.
Further on in the plot of the movie A Perfect Getaway, the couples come to a remote beach, where, besides them, there are many other tourists. Cliff rents two kayaks and invites Nick to see a cave that is somewhere off the beach. The men float away. At this time, Gina takes the Andersons’ camera and looks through the recordings in it. These are videos and photos from the wedding of the newlyweds.
Suddenly, she changes her face, rushes to the water and shouts to Nick to come back, but the guy does not hear her. The girl runs along the shore in the hope of reaching the cave where the men went by land. The meaning of the scene is that in the wedding videos, the bride and groom turned out to be completely different people. Thanks to this, Gina realized that their companions are not who they say they are.
Sydney approaches the camera, finds their identities revealed, and gives chase. Meanwhile, Gina runs up to the rock and climbs up it. At this time, men sail into the cave. Nick realizes that he was deceived and tries to pull out the knife, but Cliff pulls out a gun and shoots the guy.
A Perfect Getaway Ending explanation
The meaning of the ending of the film A Perfect Getaway is that the real criminals are Sidney and Cliff. Rocky is hiding under his name – Sydney’s first boyfriend, whom she told Gina about the evening before the sleepover. They are drug addicts who kill their victims and then assume their identities.
A series of flashbacks show how Sidney and Rocky killed the real Andersons, then took their belongings and, after significantly changing their appearance, impersonated them in order to hide with Oahu. In the scene on the boat that transported the couple to Kauai, it is seen that Rocky took out a tape with their videos from the camera that belonged to the real newlyweds and threw it into the water. The hidden meaning of this scene, apparently, is that he is trying to get rid of the evidence that would reveal their identities, but he did not take into account that the camera had built-in memory, on which some of the photos and videos were saved.
From further scenes, it becomes known that Rocky framed Cale and Cleo, first slipping evidence into their backpack, and then asking the guy in the jungle to tell the police that a couple with weapons were traveling around the island. After that they were arrested.
Flashbacks show that two passengers missed the departing boat with the fake Andersons. This is Nick and Gina. While waiting for the next flight, they walk around the city. From the content of the scenes associated with them, it becomes known that Nick is going to propose to the girl on the island.
At the end of A Perfect Getaway movie, Rocky shoots Nick and he falls into the water. This is seen from the rock by Gina, who managed to get to the cave. Rocky shoots at her but misses. Sidney appears, attacks the girl and wounds her in the leg, but Gina manages to throw the criminal off the cliff into the water.
Frame from the film.
Rocky climbs the rock and starts chasing after Gina, while Sidney is back on the water in the boat. In the cave, it turns out that Nick survived: the clue is that the bullet hit the titanium plate in his head. The guy gets out of the water and climbs up the rock to help Gina.
Gina runs into a group of guys who are wondering if she saw who took their kayaks (meaning that Rocky didn’t rent the boats like he told Nick, he just stole them). The girl says that the killer is chasing her, but they do not believe her. Rocky appears, kills the guys and is about to shoot Gina, but Nick attacks him and seriously injures him, then raises his gun and aims at him.
At this time, a police helicopter picks up Sydney, who pretends to be a victim of criminals. The helicopter hovers over the clearing where the guys and Gina are. The police demand that Nick drop his weapon. He hesitates, but Gina asks him to comply. The guy throws away the gun and Rocky picks it up. Sidney in the helicopter informs the law enforcement officers that Rocky is the real criminal who ruined her life, and the policeman kills him, saving Nick and Gina.
At the end of A Perfect Getaway, an injured Gina and Nick fly off the island in a helicopter. The guy gives the girl a ring and proposes, after which the couple decides that they will not have a honeymoon.
Frame from the film.
The meaning of the film A Perfect Getaway
The thriller A Perfect Getaway has no hidden meaning. This is an entertaining film, the essence of which is revealed through the explanation of the ending. The criminals who kill people turn out to be “Sydney” (the girl’s real name remains unknown) and “Cliff” (Rocky) “Andersons”. They murdered newlyweds on Oahu and assumed their identities to escape justice.
The interpretation of flashbacks in the finale makes it clear that killers commit such crimes regularly: the director shows how carefully they change their appearance to look like their victims, get used to their images, and also follow a number of rules (not wearing the same mask for a long time , not to become attached to their roles and future victims, etc.). Nick and Gina were supposed to be their new targets, but this pair turned out to be stronger, managed to survive and win the fight.
It doesn’t make sense to look for any deep ideas in the movie A Perfect Getaway, but one can still bear it: do not blindly trust unfamiliar people and share information about yourself with them, because it is not known who is hiding under their personalities. The director clearly shows this with the example of his characters: the harmless “Andersons” turn out to be serial killers, and the other two couples, who, it would seem, are more suitable for the role of criminals, are ordinary tourists.
Quile Sanchez as Gina. Frame from the film.
Similar films
- “California” (1993, USA). A journalist collecting materials for a book travels with his girlfriend to places where serial maniacs operated. Along the way, they pick up a young couple who know well what crime is.
- “Wow trip” (2001, USA). Two brothers set up an old walkie-talkie in the car to play a prank. This seemingly harmless undertaking becomes the cause of big problems.
- “Turistas” (2006, USA). A group of tourists travels in Brazil. Their bus has an accident, and the young people find themselves in the jungle, where they encounter a group of military men.
