Elevation
Review by Mark Woodring
There hadn’t been a bunch of lead up to this one before it released last November, but I’d seen a piece or two online, so when it finally hit MAX, I figured I’d give it a shot.
I mean, it’s got Anthony Mackie and Morena Baccarin, bot science fiction veterans and favorites of mine, so what do I have to lose?
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91 Minutes, Rated R
Written by John Glenn, Jacob Roman, Kenny Ryan
Directed by George Nolfi
Synopsis:
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.
After monsters appear by digging up through the ground, humanity is decimated until it is discovered that the monsters will not climb above an elevation of 8000 feet. Unfortunately, by this time, only small, scattered settlements of refugees are left.
After three years, Will is forced to travel below the Line in search of filters for his son’s breathing machine. He forces a scientist, Nina (Morena Baccarin), to accompany him, as she has been trying to study the creatures in order to kill them, along with his late wife’s friend, who refuses to let him go with Nina, who lead an expedition a year earlier that resulted in his wife’s death.
The scenery is spectacular, ostensibly taking place in the Rockies above Boulder, Colorado, and the creature design to be pretty terrifying, but…
Overall, I found Elevation to be a fairly generic post-apocalyptic adventure, with the creatures playing a very small role, and there never being an intelligent answer as to why there is an 8000-foot barrier.
There is a reveal that is supposed to be shocking about the creatures, but it feels as though it is something that should have been disclosed earlier in the film and become a focal point of the story-telling, but it’s just laid out there and left to flutter in the closing credits.
I also feel as though the final technique for killing the creatures was overly complicated in light of the explanation, but I won’t spoil it for you so you can determine if it’s adequately explained.
Elevation is currently streaming on MAX and stars Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson, and Danny Boyd, Jr.
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