Getaway (2013)

Getaway is the kind of lean, pedal-to-the-floor thriller that doesn’t pretend to be anything but a high-octane ride, and that honesty is part of its charm. Ethan Hawke sells the desperation with a grounded intensity, while the film’s best moments come from the tactile punch of real cars, real speed, and stunts that feel nasty and immediate rather than weightless and digital. The vibe is sweaty, loud, and relentlessly in motion—more like being strapped into the passenger seat of a bad day than settling in for a cozy crime story—and Selena Gomez brings an unexpectedly sharp, sparring energy that keeps the two-hander dynamic lively. If you want deep character study or elegant plotting, look elsewhere, but if you’re on the fence and craving a brisk, no-filler chase movie with sporadic bursts of genuinely visceral thrills, this one hits the gas and rarely lets up.

Getaway is trying to be a lean, pedal-to-the-floor thriller: one desperate guy, one great car, one ticking-clock hostage setup, and no time to breathe. The problem is it often feels like noise instead of momentum—choppy editing, a script that asks you to swallow a lot of nonsense, and action that blurs together rather than building real tension. Ethan Hawke brings more commitment than the material deserves and the car may keep gearheads mildly entertained, but the characters are too thin for the stakes to land. If you want coherent plotting and suspense you can actually feel, skip it; if you just want 90 minutes of chaotic chase energy and don’t mind switching your brain off, it might do the job.