A single father and two women venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy.
Pam says:
The apocolyptic film “Elevation” brings us absolutely nothing new as it pulls from “A Quiet Place,” “Breathe,” “Oblivion,” Independence Day,” etc. The gist of the movie is aliens have decimated every human who resides below the elevation of 8000 feet. Everyone is in dire need to get back down to sea level for some reason, although at last glance in Breckinridge, Colorado, there’s a housing crisis because everyone wants to live there. Sorry, I digress. We find ourselves in a small mountain town above Boulder where a handful of people reside, comprised of tough-as-nails Katie (Maddie Hasson), leading physicist Nina (Morena Baccarin), and Will (Anthony Mackie) whose 9 year-old son Hunter (Danny Boyd, Jr.) needs breathing treatments and is running out of the filters for his machine. Determined to save his son or die trying, Will enlists Nina’s help along with Katie’s to make his way to the hospital to get the needed medical item. (Why couldn’t they wash out the filters or perhaps make their own? Couldn’t the likes of a physicist figure this one out? I wish they came up with something, anything, a bit more complex.)
As the three began their dangerous trek across the mountain — of course, needing to dip below 8000 feet here and there — I began to make bets on who was going to bite the dust first. (Yes, I called it.) The banter among the group was throw-away, much like the movie, but as a lover of mountain life, I loved the scenery. And that was the highlight of the film for me.
Each and every twist and turn was a predictable one, and yes, you guessed this next part, too. Nina’s intellectual prowess is going to have to save them if they are to get back to little Hunter and signal to the world that they know how to kill the beasts. It’s a race against time and elevation with every step a predictable one.
While “Elevation” gives us absolutely nothing new and the situations at hand border on ridiculous, I was never bored watching the film. It had energy and I had to find out how Nina was going to save the day. The ending, not a surprising one, created a set up for — drumroll please — a sequel.
1 1/2 Stars
Chuck says:
A tired retread of “A Quiet Place,” George Nolfi’s “Elevation” is a movie in which everyone involved is simply going through the motions. Anthony Mackie is Will, one of the few survivors of an invasion of creatures that have risen from the beneath the earth to eat any human in their way. (Apparently, they have no appetite for buffalo or horses, as plenty of them are wandering around.) Seems these big-as-a-semi, quick moving predators have one fault – they can’t live above 8,000 feet.
Will and his son Hutner (Danny Boyd Jr.), live with a couple hundred other survivors in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado. All is well, except the boy has asthema and the machine that helps him breathe when stressed is out of filters. As a result, dad sets out to replenish their supply by heading out to a hospital below the death line. (Not sure why they couldn’t wash the filters and jerryrig a replacement, but I digress again…) Will has bitter scientist Nina (Morena Baccaran) and survivalist Katie (Maddie Hasson) in tow and the only real question is who’s going to be monster food first.
Again, there’s nothing new here, which is fine if the story can be delivered with a sense of urgency or imagination. Neither are present here, as “Elevation” doesn’t even have the courtesy be an adequate time filler. No, this is just a rote exercise…and don’t get me started on the ludicrous ending…
2 Stars
