Le Saut du Diable

No pun intended - actually sometimes it is best not to take your daughter with you. Better for all involved - well sort of. Of course we would not have this movie if ... wrong place, wrong time kind of thing happened. You could also swap or rather argue right instead of wrong - but that is a different story.

Since Vertical Limit in the 90s I am waiting for another movie to be on the same level of insanity of sorts. This is not it - but for a movie made for TV it is quite decent. And I just saw there is a sequel to this? Well I doubt I will be watching that anytme soon ... too much on my watchlist ... this is quite predictable with the bad guys unable to ... well shoot straight if you'll excuse another pun to end it ... something you may wish the movie would do long before it actually ends ... with the sequel it obviously doesn't really though.

This was a 4 part 2 story viewing. The first - as others have explained, was a father/daughter hiking expedition. Yes; Philip Bas did credit to his acting skills in his portrayal of an expert mountain climber - but the overall story felt like watching a French version of The Deliverance! Ricky ravines- steep dives in pools - waterfalls, the whole nine yards.

My heart sank when it became yet another tale of a truculent teenage daughter who is beyond stupid and continually ramps up the danger level. Like many in films with sulking kids as the norm - she needed a good slap - but oh no, the script called for the parent to say "its not your fault" and give the mandatory hug. Well actually it was their fault so there should have been the massivec telling off. Which happens in real life.

As for the second story - basically an army course for young outward bounders, Bas appears to have shrunk since the first film - or maybe it was the longer hair but he appeared a lot older.

I lost interest midway through the first episode it bordered on the ridiculous. Then I gave up.

The film actually started out quite normal and not bad.

A few climbing scenes and a family dynamic. But I very quickly became totally unlikable about the girl, of course she's supposed to be a pubescent teenager, but I couldn't muster up any sympathy for her at all and I wasn't actually interested in whether something happened to her. Her only job was to call "Dad". In addition, the girl sometimes behaved so stupidly that I shouted from the couch: "Get out of there, is she stupid? Why is she doing that?"

I had more sympathy for the father; I thought he played his role as a climber authentically. So I really bought into him that he can climb. He carried out the dialogues with his daughter relatively well. Solid performance. The mother also played okay, but also played authentically.

Unfortunately, my bit of praise stops with the "malefactors" of the story. It bothered me that everything someone said to themselves at a moment like that had to be said or that everything always had to be described in detail. For example: "We're leaving here now down and then look for them at the bottom".

It's always better: show don't talk. The main villain also overacted and was just way too serious and evil for this type of film.

There were quite a few logical holes in the film, e.g. B. a person jumps down and comes up on the water much too late. That got a few laughs from time to time. But I don't think it was meant to be laughed at.

Towards the end the film becomes a bit more exciting, but unfortunately that's over after just 15 minutes.

However, the film impresses with its short but beautiful landscape shots.

To be honest, the ending is pretty banal, problems are solved by magic and everything is peace and joy.