Getaway

As the summer movie season is starting to wane, we still see films that are being crammed into the multiplexes by the droves. And these just aren't any films, they are those films that one would expect to see, considering the time of year. Adrenaline, high-explosive films are the mainstay of the movie season we are in, because the demographic that want these films are out of school, still in some cases, and/or on vacation. There are adrenaline, fast-paced films, then there is "Getaway".

Though he used to race cars for a living, Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) is now pitted against the clock in the most important race of his life; an unseen criminal (Jon Voight) has kidnapped Brent's wife, Leanne (Rebecca Budig), and to get her back, he must follow the man's instructions to the letter or his wife dies. Brent commandeers the ultimate muscle car, a custom Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake--and, with a tech savvy young passenger (Selena Gomez), sets out on a high-speed chase to rescue his beloved. Will he pull it off in time? Only time itself will tell. The clock is ticking!

This was directed with an amazing amount of intensity and grit by director Courtney Solomon ("Dungeons & Dragons" 2000, "An American Haunting" '05). He really brought out that underlying intensity from Hawke about a guy whose trying to keep it together, but is ready to explode inside, very well. He also had one believing that Gomez's character was this cocky, obnoxious carjacker that obviously was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was cleverly written by Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker in that, like "Speed" '94, this starts immediately cutting to the chase, quite literally. A couple of things weren't fully explained like exactly why was this obviously very wealthy man doing this to this particular guy? But then again, try to figure the mind of a crazy person and you win a prize. Between the amazing stunt driving, cinematography by Yaron Levy ("Inside Irvin" '04, "Dark Crimes" '06, "Marco Polo" '08, "Night of the Demons" '09, "Seconds Apart" '11, "51" '11), and editing by Ryan Dufrene ("Girls Gone Gangsta" '09, "Terror Trap" '10, "Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads" '11), this was incredibly paced which kept the intensity never letting up.

Let's put it this way, if you liked "Speed" with Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper, you should really hop on this one. This is adrenaline packed from minute one til the credits roll up at the end of its 90 minute running time.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                       Rated: PG-13                       90mins.