Elevator

Take a look at the title: Elevator. What do you think this movie will be about? Well, you're probably right. Pretty much the whole film is set in the elevator. If you think you'll like a film that simply and deliberately stays put, then give it a go.

Many comparisons have been drawn to the film 'Devil,' which is also primarily set inside an elevator (the only major difference is that Elevator is not supernatural).

The story is about nine people, trapped in an elevator with a bomb. When you have a film that writes itself into a corner with its location, you need to establish the characters pretty quickly. Here, we mostly have stereotypes. In some ways it's good because we can basically read each and every one of them straight away. In others ways it smacks of lazy writing.

Elevator can best be described as a 'thriller.' However, some may question how 'thrilling' a film can be set inside a box. It's basically about their attempts at escaping. If you think you can stand the whole ninety minutes in a box with them, it may be for you. It certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, but I didn't feel like I'd completely wasted ninety minutes of my life.

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'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+.

"Elevator" in most respects has a pretty simple plot - almost too simple, which made me think it would be rather thoughtless. A bunch of people are stuck on an elevator - and there happens to be a bomb among them. So, the question is, can they get unstuck in time before the bomb goes off.

There's nothing complicated or pretentious here, and the movie is barebones. Except for a few minutes in both the opening and the closing, the entire movie is set on the crowded elevator. At first, they don't know there's a bomb, and you basically just watch the group dynamic among a diverse group of people who deal with being trapped in a variety of ways - from complete calm to claustrophobia. For a while I was thinking that just the story of this diverse group being stuck together could have made for an interesting study of group dynamics without the bomb, and I was wondering if introducing the bomb was necessary. The bomb actually worked surprisingly well. The whole group dynamic study was still there, but the introduction of the added tension worked very well to ratchet this up.

None of the characters were well developed, but we learn enough about them as they interact on the elevator to at least get a sense of who they are. None of the actors are major stars. The best known and most recognizable to me was probably Jerry Slotnick. That lack of a big name created more a of a composite cast and helped us focus on the group rather than on one individual within the group. There are some story points that didn't work all that well for me. The reporter beaming some video out on her cell phone seemed contrived; and the attempt to free the elevator using a small crack through which an arm could be reached had predictable results - why would anyone even try that, given that the result of any success was so obvious? All things considered though I was surprised by how watchable I found this, made even more so by its very short (1:20) run time. (7/10)

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.