Retreat (2011)

Just perfect...

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Blistering performances.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I was surprised with this one, surprised with where it went, surprised with the ending, just a good psychological thriller that had me asking what do you believe? Its along the lines of Dead Calm (replace boat with remote cabin) and admittedly kinda slow to get going but I did like the atmosphere and Scottish location.It follows Kate (Thandie Newton) and Martin (Cillian Murphy) as they try to repair their strained relationship by revisiting a remote island cottage where they were once happy. The cracks in their relationship start to grow worse though as he generator shorts out and radio signals to the mainland prove increasingly erratic. Then one day an injured soldier (Jamie Bell) is washed ashore. He claims that a lethal airborne virus is devastating the outside world, and they must barricade themselves inside the cottage if they want to survive.Lots of twists here, I mean I did not for a second imagine the airborne virus angle and I liked imagining how I would handle the situation, would I believe him? This wasn't a plot that I'd ever seen done before. The acting is also excellent, with just the three of them playing off each other for the most part. 11/1/15

Despite the presence of the wonderful Cillian this movie was an absolute disaster. The wife irritated me from the very first scenes and she never got any more sympathetic. The husband was weak & pathetic but I did have some liking for him until he gave the lunatic the gun. There was absolutely no sense in that scene - why would he believe there were people "out there" when he hadn't seen any? And even if he believed it, why give the crazy dude the gun? Why not just keep it yourself? And on that subject, why did the crazy guy keep giving the axe to the husband if he was supposed to be the macho army bloke surely HE'D want the axe and be the one doing the main defending. Things went from bad to worse when we were stuck with long sessions of people talking about themselves and relationship woes while nothing else happened and boredom set in with a vengeance. There was almost no action or suspense or anything interesting happening in this movie at all, at any point. Very disappointing. There really isn't anything to recommend this movie for, not even Cillian, unless you're the kind of person who just likes to watch a whole film about people being tense and whiney with each other while one of them messes with the other two people's heads.

I am definitely a fan. Retreat was a good, fast paced movie with some well placed and unexpected twists. I was thoroughly brought in by the film, constantly feeling intrigued and trying to figure out what could possibly happen next. Granted, some may say it as full at first, with which no could not disagree, but the rest of the movie really made up for it. Everything just added up to make this film thoroughly enjoyable.Never did I expect some of the content in this film, especially the ending (sit this one out, and don't give up on it - it gets SO much better toward the ending). I don't want to give spoilers, but expect a shocking turn of events, right up to the last minute.Sit back and enjoy... If you can... You might just be too excited to sit still.

This is a sparse but nicely filmed thriller which I was drawn to by an interesting premise and a decent looking cast. It starts off very slowly, maybe too slowly but gradually once the mysterious soldier played by Jamie Bell appears the tension increases as you try and decide if the threat is real or imagined. This is a film that keeps you guessing right to the end.Retreat boasts a very impressive cast. Jamie Bell, Cillian Murphy and Thandie Newton are all excellent actors and all put in good performances. The isolated and stunning location provides a welcome diversion at times from the claustrophobic setting inside the cottage. This is a decent thriller with what I thought was a very good ending. Definitely worth catching if you get the chance.