Elevation (2024) Vertical/Action-Thriller RT: 90 minutes Rated R (language) Director: George Nolfi Screenplay: John Glenn, Kenny Ryan and Jacob Roman Music: H. Scott Salinas Cinematography: Shelly Johnson Release date: November 8, 2024 (US) Cast: Anthony Mackie, Monica Baccarin, Maddie Hasson, Danny Boyd Jr., Shauna Earp, Tyler Gray.
Rating: ***
I felt a slight sense of nostalgia as I watched Elevation this afternoon. The post-apocalyptic action-thriller took me back to my misspent youth in the 80s when nearly every successful movie was followed by a few cheap knock-offs from studios like Cannon and New World. It’s a low-rent version of A Quiet Place with its story of a handful of survivors dealing with deadly creatures with a weakness. In this case, it’s heights rather than sight.
The few remaining people in the world live in survival mode. A few years earlier, monsters known as “reapers” rose from the ground and killed 95% of the population. For reasons that are never explained, they can’t go above 8000 feet. Humans live above that line, mainly on mountaintops. This is good for people who live in places like Colorado where the Rocky Mountains are located. Will (Mackie, the new Captain America) lives up there with his young son Hunter (Boyd, Good Girls). They get by okay, but Will is going to have to venture down the mountain to Boulder to get health supplies for his son. The kid has breathing problems. He’ll be face to face with the indestructible predators. He might not make it back alive.
Will is joined on his quest by his close friend Katie (Hasson, God Bless America) and his unhinged neighbor Nina (Baccarin, Deadpool). He blames his wife’s death on Nina, a physicist who’s been looking for a way to kill the unkillable creatures. She has an idea, but needs to get to her lab to test it out. He’s mapped out a route that will take them below the safety line a few times. It will also take them through an abandoned mine where the monsters could be lying in wait. He could be killed, but he has no choice but to put his boy’s needs first.
I saw Elevation with a buddy and I was commenting that it was just like the B-titles that used to be the bottom half of double features back in the 70s and 80s. If taken on those terms, it’s a pretty good flick. And honestly, I don’t know what other terms it could be taken on. It doesn’t try to be anything more than it is, a Saturday afternoon creature feature with a nifty little twist at the end and a mid-credits scene that sets up a possible sequel. The only thing missing was a theater full of rowdy people shouting helpful suggestions to the characters.
Not that it’s a real consideration in a movie like Elevation, but the acting is fairly solid. Mackie is good as the father willing to sacrifice himself for his son, the only family he has left. Early on, he scolds his son for going below the safety line to look at the residents of another encampment through binoculars. The kid just wanted to see other people. It may seem insignificant, but it helps set up a world in which future generations won’t know what the old normal was like. Could this possibly be a subtle reference to a recent world-changing event?
Baccarin is also good as a woman living with tremendous guilt. It’s not just about what happened with Will’s wife; it has a lot to do with her own family. She tries to atone by looking for a way to eliminate the threat that brought them to where they are now. Hasson stands out as the angry, rebellious young woman determined to put humans back at the top of the food chain. She believes in humanity when nobody else seems to.
The cinematography by Shelly Johnson is distinctive. I love how she films the natural beauty of the Colorado alpines, using it to make the underlying threat of monsters more discomforting. The scenes where the apex predators chase their prey are exciting. The creatures themselves are suitably fierce, but they don’t look much different from other monsters we’ve seen in movies over the years.
Directed by George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), Elevation is a decent sci-fi-action-thriller that clocks in at a lean, mean 90 minutes. It spends a little longer on exposition than it should, but it delivers in the end. I don’t know if I recommend seeing it at the cinema. It would be better to watch it home on a double bill with another horror movie like Smile 2. Either way, it’s a good flick.
