By Victoria Irwin
Senior Correspondent
Getaway, the new action film from director Courtney Solomon, takes car crashes and explosions to new levels through the city streets of Sofia, Bulgaria. Former racecar driver Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) is in for the ride of his life when he is forced to race a stolen Shelby Mustang in an attempt to complete a mission and save his wife from unknown kidnappers. If he fails to complete instructions or is caught, Magna’s wife dies. A faintly German-accented man, known only as “The Voice,” controls his every action by watching Magna on the live feed of the cameras in the car he has instructed the former racecar driver to steal. Magna finds life even more complicated when a young woman, known throughout the film only as “The Kid” (Selena Gomez) attempts to take back “her car” from Magna at gunpoint. The Voice insists that Magna take the girl with him on his instructed car crash rampage
This film flat out could not have happened in any setting but Eastern Europe. The first few instructions to Magna reminded me of a teenage boy with an RC car. The Voice tells Magna to drive through a park full of people and “smash into as many things as” he can. He is instructed to smash into a truck full of water. Many of the shots of the car seem like an attempt to advertise a Shelby Mustang. This is further emphasized when almost every European car in the film seems to meet a crushed end, yet the Mustang seems to reign supreme despite bullet holes
Selena Gomez is as believable with a gun as a she is swearing; in short, not believable at all. Her dialogue is reminiscent of a high school drama production of NYPD blue and her supposed hacking skills are laudable. After Hawke’s character questions her knowledge of cars, she exclaims “I like cars, computers and other boy things. It’s the 21st century.” The line is painfully forced, as are her attempts to use a keyboard when supposedly hacking a powerplant in Bulgaria. Ethan Hawke as a former racecar driver seems just a bit too much like the dreams of a fourteen year old boy. His character is very one dimensional, showing emotion only when his wife is shown on camera.
This film is perfect for the viewer who wants to see a wealth of European police cars catch fire, crash into walls and explode. The chase scenes are well constructed and the visuals are well composed, but the story and acting just falls flat. Do not look for answers. Do not look for plot. Just sit back, relax and watch the police cruiser burn.
