Sugar Mountain

There are too many plot twists to be believable, and the characters are bit flat. There are moments when I just rolled my eyes in disbelief at how unimaginative the writing. I felt nothing for the characters, and the story isn't anchored with any practical ideas.

I don't quite understand how this movie is incurring such poor ratings since it is one of the more original films I've seen in some time.

Special effects? Forget it. This is pure wilderness territory in panoramic play. Wild Alaska at its finest in natural scenery, music (native Alaskans Black Railroad Company with bluegrass twang and a rugged, rustic feel), with "real" people in the background throughout.

I could not predict anything that would happen in this film even though it *appeared* mundanely spelled out from the outset. Nothing is at it seems in 'Sugar Mountain'; for that, my interest was sustained and entangled with the very good acting, plot twists, and disbelief throughout.

This movie felt very Indie-"ish" to me. I appreciated the stripped down rawness and feeling of realness. If you're looking for glitz, elite Hollywood garbage, again forget it.

This is deeper than that.

I have been waiting a couple of years now to catch this film on TV, and when it was recently aired I made sure I taped it so that I could watch it with my undivided attention. With first rate stars such as Jason Momoa and Cary Elwes I was expecting a much better thriller than what was delivered. The director Richard Gray does not have an extensive resume, his previous mainstream film was the 2014 film titled "The Lookalike". I have not seen that one either yet. After watching his latest directorial film, Sugar Mountain I am in no hurry to watch The Lookalike.

This film started off pretty good, but don't let the film name or the film's suspenseful and artful cover fool you. It's nothing special and quickly goes from a zoom zoom to a putter putter.....and then pffffttt

I give it a 4 out 10 IMDB Rating

So Sugar Mountain is s real place in Alaska? Interesting. I wonder if they call it that cause it's covered in snow? Went to see the flick cause Jason Momoa is in it. Looks like he filmed this around the same time as Justice League, cause he looks massive.

But the new Aquaman has a small part in a movie about two brothers and the woman between them trying to pull off an interesting con.

In order to save their small business they have a plan: Miles, the older bad boy brother would get lost on Sugar Mountain just long enough to make it worth selling his story to journalist and get paid like that dude who the movie 127 Hours is based on. Just to make his story of survival sweeter, an extra added story of Liam, the good little brother, openly confessing his love to his brother's girlfriend and the two brother's staging a fight just before Miles "disappears" on the mountain, making it seem like Liam may have had something to do with it.

Of course the not that interesting twist is that Liam does actually have a thing for his brother's girl (You see that coming), What you don't see coming is how long of a downward spiral the whole con is. Usually in a small town when one of their own gets missing, it brings the town together in a good way, and the three culprits thought that would happen, but the con was getting people they care about hurt, or bringing out the worse in those closest to them and especially , especially each other. It's like the boy who cried wolf scenario , only everyone else gets eaten as the demon's come out.

But Props to Jason Momoa who showed he was not all that one dimensional. One of my fav scenes is when his character Joe Bright ended up in a holding cell with Liam and his big ass roughed up little Liam in the ultimate scared straight "I'm never ever going to jail, ever" situation.

It was a real tangle web of deception. It all started with what seemed like an very easy get rich quick scheme, but as the pages turned in this book the twist just kept getting more complex and disturbing, till you get to turning the page that makes you go "what!?" and your mind is just blown away by how messed up these people are.

Sugar Mountain did the trick.

http://cinemagardens.com

We have all heard about true survivor stories and the big bucks, and sometimes a movie made for the story.

Well, we have almost the same thing here in this fictional story. Brothers Liam (Shane Coffey) and Miles (Drew Roy) hatch a plan whereby Miles will go into Sugar Mountain after a "fight" with Liam and get lost and be "found" later on and the story will bring in big bucks to take care of their debts. The plan is hatched, but things go south big time.

Enter Joe Bright (Jason Momoa) who learns of the hoax and wants money to keep quiet. Oh, oh, this can't be good.

Acting all around is very good and the cinematography is outstanding, at times. There are plot holes and twists, but to tell of them would give too much away. And, there is one very big twist later on. Let me repeat: A VERY BIG TWIST.

Okay, one lesser twist - that is obvious - is that Liam has a thing for his brother's girlfriend, Lauren Huxkey (Haley Webb). (Yes. Very obvious)

I was surprised at how many "producers" are listed in this movie. Hey, guys it wasn't that good. Not bad, but why all these producers?

Notable: Cary Elwes as Sheriff Huxley, and yes, Lauren's father.

The ending is somewhat of a reach, but plausible I suppose. (5/10)

Violence Yes. Sex: Yes. Nudity: Yes. Language: Yes.