If you've ever watched the movie Jumper, you've seen British actor Jamie Bell at work. Playing a seething, aggressive character seems to come naturally to this very gifted performer, so when I realized he was in the film Retreat, I "jumped" right in.
As the story begins, we view scenes of a lonely island somewhere in Britain, where wife Kate and husband Martin (played by Thandie Newton and Cillian Murphy), plan to enjoy a little quiet time. As it turns out, their stay will be anything but serene.
Writer Kate settles in to work on her next project, but the strains in their marriage start to show. Just when things start getting bad for the couple, Martin spots a delirious man approaching the retreat, taking him in ends up being the most momentous decision of their lives.
I have a love/hate relationship concerning characters played by the actor Jamie Bell, as he seems to inhabit the persona of intense bullies with a chip on his shoulder a little too well. He comes off as someone who'd just as soon take your head off if you accidentally bumped into him on the subway.
This menancing, looming, ever-present threat is the sign of a great actor with the ability to fall into any role that he plays. That's exactly what unfolds when the couple make the fateful choice to take this man in. As I'm watching, I start to think "Can't you see there's something wrong with this guy?" But ignorance is bliss as the old saying goes, and from that moment forward, nothing would ever be the same again.
Sign of the times
While this movie was released in 2011, the connections to the current global crisis is eerie. The stranger, Jack, warns the pair about an airborne disease which is spreading throughout Europe that they all need to prepare for. However, the new occupant in their abode begins to takeover their lives in a pushy, intimidating manner.
Sounds familar doesn't it? Seems like the setup to yet another zombie flick, but not this time... We've had a rush of pandemic-related movies, but we have quite a different animal here, with an added focus on the tangled relationships between the three guests. The tension and fear exuding from the newcomer, is balanced by the worry over an invisible virus just waiting to kill.
The new threat posed by this interloper has the effect of drawing Kate and Martin together in a quest to find out what is really going on. I won't spoil this excellent film except to say that nothing is as it seems from the beginning to the end, however the choice must be made to fight or flight.
I love a movie that works in a well-crafted plot twist that just sneaks up on you as it does in Retreat. This is a slow-burn and well worth your time. As the credits begin to roll, you'll end up hating Jamie Bell's character, Jack. Or will you? :)
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It is interesting to see that by 2011 there were already writers who thought of an invisible silent virus that in this case could affect people in their moods to make them more aggressive, as was the case of that fellow who wants the protagonists.
Looking back, there were a number of films based around the premise of a global virus that werereleased in the years before the pandemic. The idea seemed to be floating in the ether at the time only to become the real thing years later...
it is true, a person had to come to realize the idea.