“A neat, well-crafted three-hander.”
Retreat, the “claustrophobic” thriller starring Peaky Blinders actor Cillian Murphy, is now available to stream for free in the UK. Released in 2011, the film stars Murphy opposite Thandiwe Newton as a couple named Kate and Martin.
When the pair visit an isolated island in an attempt to recover from a personal tragedy, their break is cut short when a stranger, played by Jamie Bell, interrupts their stay.
The synopsis reads: “Kate and Martin escape from personal tragedy to an island retreat, cut off from the outside world. However, their attempts to recover are shattered when a man is washed ashore with news of an airborne killer disease that is sweeping through Europe.”
Directed by Carl Tibbetts, the British thriller is now available to stream for free on BBC iPlayer for the next 29 days.
Following its release, the film garnered a positive response from critics, scoring a respectable 62% on Rotten Tomatoes from 13 reviews.
Sony Pictures
We Got This Covered said of the film: “Despite some melodrama, Retreat boasted a great cast that made the more unpalatable sentimental moments bearable, and a claustrophobic tension that made the thriller aspects of the film work.”
“A well-shot and directed telling of a claustrophobic tale which turns from thriller to horror story by the end. Only if you can’t suspend your disbelief will it fail to keep you watching,” penned The London Evening Standard.
The Guardian said of the film: “This is a neat, well-crafted three-hander, making good use of its location; it really is a meaty role for Bell, who lets rip in what might be his most eye-catching part since Billy Elliot.”
Sony Pictures
“Tibbetts’s passable thriller deploys on terra firma a plot similar to Charles Williams’s nautical noir novel Dead Calm: a grieving couple’s supposedly healing holiday is disrupted by a malevolent nutter,” wrote The Observer.
Slant Magazine said: “Retreat’s wheels are constantly spinning, but they’re not always taking us anywhere. This is made especially unfortunate by how much promise the premise holds; it often feels like an intriguing idea that never fully takes off.”
