STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Martin (Cillian Murphy) and Kate (Thandie Newton) retreat to a remote island off the coast of Scotland in an attempt to reconcile their marriage after suffering the heart ache of a still born child. With only an old transmitter radio to keep them in contact with the outside world, they are thrown into disarray when a weather storm breaks even this off. Things get worse when bruised and battered soldier Jack (Jamie Bell) washes up on the shore. After getting back on his feet again, Jack informs them a killer virus has taken over the outside world and they must barricade themselves inside if they want to survive. Unsure whether the man in their house is telling the truth, or a maniac with ulterior motives, the couple find themselves locked in an increasingly tense psychological battle where the one place they should feel most safe becomes the tightest little corner in the world.
It's interesting, and certainly very sad, how a lot of promising ideas for great films seem to find themselves skipping theatres and going straight to DVD in these tough economic times, which would appear to be the case with Retreat, which couldn't quite be described as a 'great' film, but certainly quite an impressive and well made one, that quite rightly has an impressive cast list to back up it's neat idea. Director Carl Tibbetts has taken the 'isolation' theme for this kind of psychological thriller and managed an effective sense of claustrophobia, which is the effect this kind of film is aiming for.
The set up works in the sense that with the radio broken and alone miles away from anyone and anything, it is never clear whether Jack is to be believed and while his claims are far fetched and fantastical, there is always the faint possibility they could be true. Tibbetts keeps up the pressure with the psychological mind games that ensue between the two parties, where the integrity of Bell's character fluctuates enough times to keep the suspense up.
Although it works the premise quite well, it can't be described as an original idea but it's still a decent, entertaining Dead Calm style thriller with a dark conclusion. ***
Martin (Cillian Murphy) and Kate (Thandie Newton) retreat to a remote island off the coast of Scotland in an attempt to reconcile their marriage after suffering the heart ache of a still born child. With only an old transmitter radio to keep them in contact with the outside world, they are thrown into disarray when a weather storm breaks even this off. Things get worse when bruised and battered soldier Jack (Jamie Bell) washes up on the shore. After getting back on his feet again, Jack informs them a killer virus has taken over the outside world and they must barricade themselves inside if they want to survive. Unsure whether the man in their house is telling the truth, or a maniac with ulterior motives, the couple find themselves locked in an increasingly tense psychological battle where the one place they should feel most safe becomes the tightest little corner in the world.
It's interesting, and certainly very sad, how a lot of promising ideas for great films seem to find themselves skipping theatres and going straight to DVD in these tough economic times, which would appear to be the case with Retreat, which couldn't quite be described as a 'great' film, but certainly quite an impressive and well made one, that quite rightly has an impressive cast list to back up it's neat idea. Director Carl Tibbetts has taken the 'isolation' theme for this kind of psychological thriller and managed an effective sense of claustrophobia, which is the effect this kind of film is aiming for.
The set up works in the sense that with the radio broken and alone miles away from anyone and anything, it is never clear whether Jack is to be believed and while his claims are far fetched and fantastical, there is always the faint possibility they could be true. Tibbetts keeps up the pressure with the psychological mind games that ensue between the two parties, where the integrity of Bell's character fluctuates enough times to keep the suspense up.
Although it works the premise quite well, it can't be described as an original idea but it's still a decent, entertaining Dead Calm style thriller with a dark conclusion. ***