Netflix has recently added to its service an excellent, Cillian Murphy-starring thriller that only received a sadly limited release in cinemas back in 2011.
Titled Retreat, the movie was the feature directorial debut of Carl Tibbets – best known for helming two of Black Mirror’s best episodes: ‘White Bear’ and ‘White Christmas’.
The film sees Murphy and Thandiwe Newton (Line of Duty, Westworld) play a married couple, Martin and Kate, whose relationship has become tense in the wake of Kate experiencing a miscarriage.
As such, Martin takes Kate back to a small, remote, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland called Blackholme where they shared happy memories years previously.
The holiday retreat gets off to a rocky start as buried resentments between the couple rise to the surface and their cottage suffers a series of power outages.
However, things go from bad to worse when Kate spots an injured armed man (Jamie Bell – All of Us Strangers, Snowpiercer) passing out near their holiday house.
When the stranger awakes, he informs the couple that his name is Jack, that he is a soldier and that a deadly airborne virus has reached the UK. Because of this, he says the three must barricade the cottage to avoid becoming infected.
So far, so 28 Days Later – particularly given the presence of Cillian Murphy.
That said, given Jack’s outlandish claims and his domineering, erratic behaviour – which sees him appearing to pit Martin and Kate against each other – the couple quickly suspect that Jack may be less interested in trying to save them but instead trap them.
Taking place entirely on and around the island and mostly in the holiday cottage, Retreat is a tense and tight 90-minute thriller that hits a couple of classic beats very well.
While comparisons to the likes of 28 Days Later are inevitable, the script by Tibbets and novelist Janice Hallett is more psychological in nature – focusing nearly completely on three people thrust into a situation where they can’t trust one another and must constantly manipulate each other in order to get what they want or need.
This might not work so well were it not for the great casting. Murphy makes for an extremely believable everyman out of his depth while Newton is brilliantly brooding, pained if pragmatic when needed to be.
But the real star of the show is Bell, who makes a meal out of the part of Jack – who can transition from seeming sincere to scheming and scary at a moment’s notice.
Throughout the movie, you can’t tell if Bell’s Jack is just a soldier doing his job in dire circumstances, if he’s having a nervous breakdown or if he has some other sinister ulterior motive for locking up Martin and Kate.
Whatever the truth, the character’s claims of global collapse do ratchet up the tension, so that it truly does feel like the claustrophobic clashes between the central three characters have real-world consequences.
Even better, as Retreat nears its end, the film’s screenplay has some sharp stings in its tail that will have you reconsidering everything that’s happened before – something which should make the thriller a nifty rewatch.
Audiences seem to be agreeing, as the film that risked being forgotten appeared in the top 10 of JustWatch’s weekly streaming movie chart for the UK since being added to Netflix earlier this month.
Retreat is streaming on Netflix in the UK and Ireland right now.
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