Elevator

"I've been taking this elevator everyday, ten times a day, we all have for six years and it's never once gotten stuck." A group of people on their way to a party for work are starting to pile in an elevator. When the limit is reached they begin the ascent to the top floor. Tensions start almost instantly and when the elevator gets stuck in between floors things get worse. While talking to each other the discover that one of them has a bomb. They now have another reason to try and find a way out, fast. I know not many people do, but I really like these movies that take place in one confined area. There is something tense and terrifying about that. This one is no exception. Much like the movie "Devil" this one takes place in an elevator but instead of being a straight horror movie this one is more dramatic and full of tension. The characters are all interesting and believable. Some of the movie is a little out there, but overall a pretty believable movie. Overall, if you like movies like "Devil" or "Buried" then you will like this one too. I did. I give it a B+.

This film begins in New York with a lavish party being held in the penthouse of a high-rise building on Wall Street. To that effect, the CEO of the corporation holding the event, by the name of "Henry Barton" (John Getz), joins several other people in the elevator to take them to the event. In the elevator with him is his young granddaughter, "Madeline Barton" (played by both Rachel Pace and Amanda Pace), along with several employees who work for Henry Barton. Also included in this group is a stand-up comedian by the name of "George Axelrod" (Joey Slotnick), who is extremely claustrophobic and lets everybody know how he feels about the elevator being too crowded. Being quite mischievous, Madeline decides to play a prank on him by pressing the emergency stop button near the 49th floor. What she doesn't realize, however, is that the gears on the elevator are in need of repair, and as a result, there is no immediate way to get out of their current dilemma. Even worse is the fact that one of the other people in this group has brought a bomb into this elevator, which is set to detonate within two hours, and this may not be enough time for maintenance to correct the situation. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a fairly entertaining movie which managed to keep my attention pretty much from start to finish. Admittedly, the film could have also used a bit more suspense here and there, but even so, it was good enough for the time spent, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

ELEVATOR has a decent set-up: a group of characters are trapped in a stuck lift, and one of them holds a secret that's going to put them into a dangerous situation. It's a clear copy of the recent Shyamalan-produced horror movie DEVIL, except this one's non-supernatural. The box proclaims that it's the film that DEVIL could have been, but that's a downright lie.

Because ELEVATOR is a disappointment. Sure, the set-up is fine and the character mix is okay. You can't really fault the acting, either, even if most of the cast are unrecognisable aside from THE FLY's John Getz playing a typically jerkish character. Everyone puts in solid, if unspectacular performances, and I did like Joey Slotnick as the loud-mouthed comedian despite his character's brash, irritating nature.

The problem with this is the script. It's fair to say that nothing really happens in ELEVATOR, and there's certainly nothing here to make this unmissable viewing. I can think of two good, suspenseful sequences in the entire movie, and the rest of it is just endless build-up leading to a pay-off that never arrives. I actually enjoyed the first half more than the second, purely because of the expectation value. The ending is particularly disappointing and lightweight.

This should have been much better than it is, because Stig Svendsen does a good job of shooting within the claustrophobic confines of his small-scale set and there are all the right ingredients; it's just that they don't amount to much in the end. And the incredibly irritating girl in it should have been killed; it was criminal that she never got punished for her daft actions.

I got to see this one on it's world premiere yesterday, at the Tromso International Film Festival. Not knowing what I could expect from this hardly known Norwegian director, Stig Svendsen, I was still hoping to see a nerve wrecking thriller about modern day terrorism. The film started out as expected, but it seemed very unoriginal at first. The main characters seemed too familiar and too smooth. Additionally I found a couple of the actors weren't any good. But as the film got going, it turned out this wasn't at all a dead serious thriller. A couple of really watchable characters showed up, and the scripted turned humorous, in a quite successful way.

The film goes on as a rare mix of comedy and thriller, that actually works brilliantly. The filmmakers have successfully combined a serious situation with humor, and the result is one crazy elevator ride. It owes a lot to traditional action comedy films, but at the same time it really is something of it's own. It's rare to see such entertaining films and especially films about such a relevant topic.

Look at the title. You see that one word title, now tell me, what do you expect from a movie like that? I actually think it provides exactly what it is supposed to. Maybe a bit more. Not a lot more, but I did like the (obvious) characters. It's not amazing or earth shattering, but it is more than decent.

A few things are over the top of course, but still kudos to the actors, they did a good job on this. Things are predictable of course, but that doesn't change the fact, that you can enjoy the movie as it is. The inciting incident is of course something that would drive everyone mad in real life. Try to take the movie in, as it was intended if you can