The 2024 Sci Fi Horror film Elevation is all Rocky Mountain High survival. Small pockets of humanity are hiding from the most recent “boogeymen” on Earth. Scary creatures that cannot go above a certain elevation. One of the survivors has a son with a breathing problem.
He decides to go below the safe line and get some oxygen bottles.
the main cast
Anthony Mackie is Will.
Morena Baccarin is Nina.
Maddie Hasson is Katie.
Danny Boyd Jr. is Hunter.
Rachel Nicks is Tara.
The Elevation story
Well. The story is pretty much what you see in the opening paragraph. Mankind must move above the 8000 feet mark to survive. Darn scary creatures that emit some sort of red coloured beam kill people. They have, pretty much, a 100 % kill rate.
Will must get more oxygen cylinders for his son’s condition and enlists the aid of Nina to help. Katie forces her way into this possible suicide mission. Nina and Will have a difficult relationship because he believes that the scientist killed his wife Tara. Tara, mother of Hunter; he of the breathing condition.
A few problems
The tail end of Elevation features a “revelation” about these scary and pretty deadly creatures. I will not spoil it here but anyone paying any attention at the “scale” that Nina keeps shooting out will not be surprised at all.
None of the characters, quite sadly, are more than two dimensional cutouts. Heck, they do not even have last names. That is some sloppy script writing folks, if we do say so.
And we do.
The entire scenario of Elevation feels naggingly familiar. We get the feeling that this plot has been trotted out before. Bird Box, A Quiet Place: Day One…You get the picture.
Behind the camera
Director George Nolfi does a good job, a working man’s effort for this almost pedestrian film. Elevation has three writers: John Glenn, Jacob Roman and Kenny Ryan are credited with the screenplay. This may well be a case of too many cooks here.
Or it could just be a case of sloppy work all around in terms of story, pacing, character development and the weird open ending.
*Interesting note here: The monsters are, apparently, Kaiju. In case you were interested.*
Sequel?
Elevation leaves itself open for a possible sequel. Unless they can manage to amp everything up from this abysmal affair, it most likely will not be happening. The ranking, on IMDb at least, indicates that everyone found this one to be mediocre at best.
The Verdict
If you have a bag of popcorn and a fizzy drink handy go ahead and watch Elevation. It is a solid 3 star film. It has got Mackie in it, and Baccarin, so it is not all bad. I wasn’t exactly bored with the movie, I did watch the entire thing start to finish after all. We have, to be fair, seen worse films.
However.
There are other things on the internet that are that bit more entertaining and original.
On second thought. Perhaps one needs to get “Rocky Mountain High” to enjoy the film?
The Trailer
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