Retreat

"Just a bit of peace and quiet, really."

Hoping to revitalize their marriage after some trauma and broken trust, Kate and Martin (Thandie Newton and Cillian Murphy) make for a cottage on a tiny island off the British coast. After the caretaker leaves in his little boat, it’s just them and the generator in the basement — the island is otherwise uninhabited. A couple of days into their getaway, a man (Jamie Bell) comes stumbling in from the shore, bloodied and reeling. Calling himself Jack, a soldier in the UK army, he tells them that an airborne pandemic has ravaged the rest of civilization. They must protect themselves — seal the house and board it up against the inevitable horde of intruders — or they will all die.

All is not as it seems, and I regret to report that Retreat largely wastes that doozy of a high concept. It quickly becomes one of those boogeyman thrillers where our heroes have a dozen chances to disable the aggressor but never do, prompting the entire audience to repeatedly shout for them to “Shoot him!” Somewhat more intriguing is the psychological gamesmanship between the two men: the film suggests that Jack is the strong and decisive (i.e., masculine) alter ego to the passive, genteel Martin, and it’s fun to watch writer-director Carl Tibbets toy with this theme even if he never quite develops it.

The film lumbers to an arbitrary, unsatisfying conclusion, delivered in a burst of exposition followed by a glib ironic twist. The path there is equal parts suspenseful and silly, buoyed by a lovely musical score, an insinuating, gorgeously windswept setting (that alas mostly goes unused), and strong performances by Newton and Murphy, who contribute far more to their characters than the screenplay does. It’s a fast, painless 90 minutes.

But if I’m mildly “pro” on Retreat, it’s because of Tibbets’ sole genius move: casting the wildly talented Jamie Bell as Kate and Martin’s violent, volatile visitor. A mesmerizing live wire, Bell delivers an obsessively detailed, modulated performance (watch his eyes — he doesn’t blink until a particular turning point in the plot), effortlessly credible and scarier than any pandemic threat. Dude can act.

-- Eugene Novikov

Released:	2011
Genres:	Thriller, Horror, Sci-Fi, Action
Starring:	Cillian Murphy, Jamie Bell, Thandie Newton
Directed by:	Carl Tibbets
Screenwriters:	Janice Hallett, Carl Tibbets
Rated:	UR