Right from the start Elevation does its world building in the opening minutes. Rising from the depths the monsters are seemingly impervious to whatever the world throws at them, steamrolling the globe with scant regard for anyone. Its little wonder they get called ‘Reapers’ though more of a wonder that this is not, ‘The Meghan & Harry story’.
Three years after this all occurred 95% of the world has been decimated by the murderous monsters and those that are left have found safety by living above the 8000ft mark where the creatures for reasons not explained can’t go in a manner similar to The Nag’s Head bar area whenever it’s our Editor’s turn to get a round in (‘You’re fired!’ – Ed). It’s here that communities have built up and where Will (Anthony Mackie) is father to Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr) who has health complications that affect his breathing. It’s this that drives the story when Hunter needs medication and resources necessitating Will needing to go below the 8000ft elevation mark to get them.
It is of course at huge risk to his own safety but if he doesn’t then his son has little chance of living much longer. Will finds assistance from Nina (Morena Baccarin) a doctor who has been carrying out her own research on how the bullet proof reapers can be eradicated. Joining both on their mission is Will’s friend Katie (Maddie Hasson) and it’s a neat trick that inverts the usual trope of the lone female on the team instead for a lone male.
Director George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) makes clear just how vulnerable they are with drone shots of the stunning and beautifully shot Colorado mountain scape that lays bare that they have nowhere to hide and that the beauty of the landscapes hides the horror of the reapers often seen in aerial shots rampaging towards the trio. So their mission sees a number of set pieces are effectively engaging – one involving a ski lift works well and the subsequent set pieces are just as entertaining.
Elevation knows that it’s a B-movie monster fest and embraces all the tropes that come with it – the emotional back story revelation before a monster attack, creatures that are entertainingly disposable by violent means and nick of time coincidences being just some but this is a lot of fun and at 90 minutes doesn’t hang around but gets on with enjoyably undemanding escapism.
related feature : ‘Wolf Man’ director Leigh Whannell talks about the the making of his film’s werewolf
related feature : Anthony Mackie’s star turn in, ‘The Hate U Give’
We chat to director George Nolfi about those monsters in Elevation…..
Here’s the Elevation trailer…….
