Sugar Mountain

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

The premise of the movie, Sugar Mountain, sounds intriguing, but the execution of the story turns out to be lackluster/mediocre at best. It lacks either good direction, writing, acting or whatever it is that makes a movie thrilling and dramatic. The movie has many twists and turns, but I felt no excitement for or interest in any of the characters and their situations. Cary Elwes delivers the best performance acting-wise, while the others are okay.

Contrast this movie with let's say the movie, A Simple Plan, which is dramatic, suspenseful, thrilling and has excellent acting throughout where you feel for the characters and their various plights.

Overall, If you're bored and just want to watch something to pass some time, Sugar Mountain is watchable...just barely.

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 woke up at night due to a storm and looked for some entertainment. This movie caught my eye, unfortunately.

It is a principle of mine to always finish a movie, out of courtesy. This time it was tough. Way too long, I had to force myself not to fast forward.

Empty characters, forced interactions and dialogue, a ridiculous concept to begin with.

All in all, pretty bad. If you watch this and feel any kind of sympathy or any kind of feeling towards any of the cardboard characters, then kudos to you.

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.