Elevation

It was an interesting concept and an entertaining movie. There are several plot holes, and things that don't make sense. Much less get answered. It's not scary, but it does get a little tense in some spots. Unfortunately a lot of the characters are cliche and the dialogue seems forced sometimes. The mystery of Elevation is the strongest part of the movie. Rarely do I hope for a prequel to explain the story better. However in this case I think one should be made I don't think there will ever be one, my son and I went to it and there was literally only one other person in the theater. In my opinion it is definitely worth a watch.

3.125 STARS - Elevation is a post-apocalyptic monster movie where most of humanity has been destroyed and those who survived are only doing so because they learned that the creatures can't go beyond 8,000 feet of elevation. The trigger for the story in this film is that a small group of the survivors must journey into dangerous territory to acquire some life-saving supplies. While it felt rather generic, this isn't the worst I've ever seen. The ending felt a tad too compressed, and because of that, it probably could have benefitted a bit from a few more minutes in that part. Though it clearly got its inspiration from other movies that have done it better, it added its own unique twist on things that made it at least interesting enough to not outright hate. Anthony Mackie and Monica Baccarin performed well here - especially with Monica, during a moment of emotional distress for her character. The main things that jumped out to me as negatives were the typical perfect-timing scenarios that happened toward the end and the predictable character death/situations that occurred. Other than that, it didn't feel flawed enough to recommend a hard pass on. Also, there is a small mid-credits scene to watch if you're interested. Video review to come shortly.

C'mon, folks, you can't be a serious person and think this movie isn't trash. The problem is, it's a bit difficult to explain exactly why without using spoilers. But I'll try.

Well here's a shortcut to explaining why: Plot holes abound. People do stupid stuff that makes no sense. Stuff you know they wouldn't do (or be allowed to do) IRL.

This isn't a spoiler since it's revealed at the very start of the movie: The "creatures" don't ever go an inch above 8,000 feet of elevation. This is clearly absurd, and is never explained. Oh, and someone very nicely marked the 8,000-foot elevation line on an entire mountain range, and they did so with hyper-precision. So much precision, in fact that you can lie down and rest just beyond the marked line even if there's a creature that was just bearing down on you, because the creature will stop in its tracks. Absurd.

Splash in all the usual contrived garbage, sprinkle in a bunch of nonsensical plot absurdities, and top it off with a laughably absurd conclusion.

And nothing is ever explained. I guess they looked at the garbage script they had and rightly decided it wasn't worth explaining. Good call.

When powerful creatures arrive from the underground of Earth everywhere in the planet, 95% of mankind is wiped out since the creatures are indestructible. The survivors find that the creatures are unable to transpose 2.400 m height and live in communities at this elevation. Will (Anthony Mackie) lives alone with his son Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr.) since his wife Tara (Rachel Nicks) went in an expedition when only the scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin) survived. Hunter is a sick boy with respiratory problems and when his filters finish, Will intends to go to the hospital at Boulder City to bring medical supplies for Hunter. He goes with his best friend Katie (Maddie Hasson) and Nina to the city in a dangerous journey since the city is below 2.400 m height.

"Elevation" (2024) is an action-sci-fi movie with an interesting concept that looks like the pilot of a series. The idea of indestructible creatures that are not able to transpose 8.000 ft. Height is different. The journey of Will, Katie and Nina through a mine with different heights and a ski lift is engaging and looks like a video game. But the optimistic conclusion shows a final scene that seems to be a sequel through another movie or a TV series. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Linha da Extinção" ("The Extinction Line")

I watched Elevation early as part of Marcus's Mystery Movie series. And I knew nothing about it beforehand. Watching movies this way maximizes your enjoyment, which it definitely did here. Unfortunately the enjoyment offered is fairly limited.

Elevation has some cool parts mixed into a mostly boring movie. The majority is walking and talking with exposition mixed in. It's a fairly standard movie within the subgenre. I like the creature design and a few suspenseful scenes. The rest isn't bad, but it maxes out at serviceable.

From someone who thinks most streaming movies are low-quality garbage, I see Elevation as more of a good streaming movie. But theatrically released, it feels underwhelming.

In a similar subgenre, I found Nicolas Cage's Arcadian to be more entertaining.

(1 viewing, early screening Marcus Mystery Movie 11/4/2024)