It’s “Why 8000 feet? I have no idea” the movie. Just hand-wave that one away… maybe we’re in for a sequel! <eyes roll>. Elevation is a generic sci-fi creature feature in the vein of A Quiet Place, Arcadian, and a few other hand-waving “they’re out there but there’s a gimmick” monster movies. A Quiet Place proves it can be done well while Elevation proves it can be done poorly.
Set in a post-apocalypse where armored critters have destroyed civilization, only people living above 8000 feet are safe. Why 8000 feet? See above. Anthony Mackie and Morena Baccarin are survivors who need to venture below the limit for supplies.
This is a low ambition, low energy action/sci-fi flick that does nothing interesting or unique. It might as well be against the critters from A Quiet Place for all it matters. It’s simple rule of being safe above 8000 feet just leads to a lot of questions nobody seems interested in asking.
Some of the dialog is noticeably bad, especially the wise-ass asides that never land. Other stuff, especially a lot of hand-waving explanations about how to kill the monsters, comes across as “maybe the audience will buy this?” technobabble. They manage a decent character moment or twos but most of it is just used to get the plot rolling.
The action is a kind of big whatever, especially against monsters that can’t be injured. Too often the thrills are had from watching people scramble uphill to that 8000 foot safety line. There’s also maybe too much running around darkened caves and then a suspiciously budget-saving lack of creatures where you’d think there’d be more.
The final act is a mess too. The characters split up for fake drama, an explosion effect that just looks weird and would have killed the first person to set it off, and awkward time-is-passing edits that just felt lazy. They try to make the final scene epic, but all it does is remind me of the budget.
Eh… this movie is mostly forgettable. It’s bad but not aggressively bad… it’s just mediocre, mundane, and tiresome. It clearly suffers from a low budget and does nothing interesting with its hand-waving premise. If you even have a chance to see it, skip it.
Score: 69