Alicia
I love this movie so much
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
David Holt (rawiri42)
Retreat could have been a good movie if the director had had his eyes open. Since the general plot has been dissected numerous times by other reviewers, I won't waste your time by repeating the story all over again.However, either the director thinks his potential audience are all a bit "slow" (to say the least) or HE is a bit slow himself. Why do I say this?Well, even though Martin and Kate are going through a small setback, surely that is no reason why, when they find an unconscious injured man on their island retreat, they shouldn't, at the very least, clean him up and dress his wounds. In such an environment there would be no doubt that their cottage would have been well-equipped with first-aid provisions yet all they appear to have done is drag the poor guy into the house and dump him on a sofa and then just sit and look at him! NO ONE would do that no matter how disturbed they were! The guy still has streaks of blood all down his face from open wounds to his head! Gee! I would sure hate to get shipwrecked on an island where they were the only occupants!Then, when he does come around, the stranger tells them what could well have been a true story albeit somewhat bizarre. But then, when he says that the virus is airborne and their house must be sealed up, no one thinks to ask what they are all going to breathe once it is and then, when he convinces Martin and Kate to actually decimate the building and board up the doors and windows, there are enough gaps between the boards for a vampire bat to fly through - let alone a minute virus - never mind the chimney! The premise of the story is plausible but its handling is pathetic! The fact that Martin and Kate actually bought Jack's story is an insult to the intelligence. I watched Retreat to the bitter end because I love Thandie Newton (and so the ending didn't please me one bit!) With a couple of exceptions, Cillian Murphy's character, Martin, was pretty lame. For example, he tells his gorgeous wife that he doesn't know what to do to ease her pain. How about giving her a great big loving hug for starters? There's poor Thandie (sorry, Kate) crying out to just be loved and all he can say is that he doesn't know what to do! I could go on but what's the point?Maybe another effort will be made with the story sometime in the future with better results. You know, I think that it should be mandatory for film directors to take basic courses in psychology so that, at least, their "normal" characters (as opposed to psychopaths who they can make as weird as they like) will behave like normal people do behave and not totally irrationally!
jazmarcam
This movie is been one of the best in its genre, I don't want to spoil anything to you, so all I'll say, it's that if you enjoy the movies that let you with your mouth open but without wondering what the hell happened, this is a perfect movie for you, I mean, you won't know what the hell until the very end, but you will know, it's not like those movies that let you that sensation like you didn't catch half of the plot, if you pay attention to all the details you will get all the answers at the end, the acting was terrific, I'm a huge fan of Cillian Murphy and he didn't let me down, was good to watch him as a normal nice guy for a change, and Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell were outstanding also, I think that what it makes this movie so enjoyable it's the fact that the main characters were normal human beings reacting as regular people would react in such situation, there were no Rambos who knew how to handle SMGs, and fight and build bombs, anyway… to me it's totally worth it and I recommend it 100%.
matthewchermside
This film bears more than few similarities to another really bad film "Right at Your Door", which should send some potential viewers running from it. The characters are bland, the "plot twist" at the end was telegraphed from the beginning, none of it makes any sense whatsoever. What a waste of a talented cast this film was. Three incredible actors in Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell are completely wasted in this tripe. As soon as Jamie Bell arrives in the film and starts barricading up the house without so much as any protest from Murphy's and Newton's characters I knew the film was going to be dreadful. The ambition of building tension is failed and the dynamics between the characters is completely screwed up, although Jamie Bell is very menacing, as the pretense is complete balls. Do not waste your time on this film, it is utter drivel.
Hesse-02
I'm not sure how I was recommended this movie as the movie came out in 2008 and we just viewed it in 2012!! And I agree, what's with the low IMDb score, we thought it was excellent!! Too many 10 year old's voting these days? Probably. Well I was very impressed by 1) cinematography and especially the island shots - just a beautiful paradise that the couple returns to for a holiday. And 2) the acting! Thandie Newton is so good in everything she does and Cillian Murphy I've seen from Batman series but couldn't take my eyes off him! As the story goes the tension builds and build, and when Jamie Bell shows up and starts talking contagious fatal world wide virus... what to do? Is he telling the truth, a 1/2 truth? I thought it had nothing in common with Dead Calm. I liked this much better. Much better fleshed out characters and you just really couldn't figure out what was going to happen which I really thought was a breath of fresh air. Movie is recommended if you are looking for a good night of suspense!
