From the producers of A Quiet Place and The Purge, Anthony Mackie stars in a post-apocalyptic world where terrifying creatures have wiped out 95% of the human population. It’s not as good as A Quiet Place, but I still really enjoyed it. And, in what is proving to be a running theme recently, I appear to be in the minority judging by the current online reaction!
The first minute gives us a very brief setup of what has happened to the world, with various news audio clips played out over the credits. Creatures suddenly started emerging from sinkholes in the ground worldwide and set about killing humans. But then reports started coming in from high-altitude towns that the creatures were not going any higher than 8000 feet, so we were all urged to get to higher ground as quickly as possible. Just in time to avoid total extinction.

Three years on, we join a small community living in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Single dad Will (Anthony Mackie) lives with his son Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr.), who we first see straying a couple of hundred metres below “the line”, a marked area across the mountains that denotes the safe point of 8000 feet. As Hunter looks out across the valleys to the other nearby mountain-top villages, he notices a sound and quickly begins making his way back up the mountain. We get our first glimpse at the creature in pursuit, large and bug-like in appearance. And, sure enough, it stops short of the painted white line on the ground.

Back home with his dad, we learn that Hunter is not well and spends his nights hooked up to oxygen. The machine supplying the oxygen is on its last filter though, so to save the life of his son, Will plans to venture to a nearby hospital that he knows has plenty of stock. Unfortunately, that journey is going to take him below the line on a couple of occasions, but he has friend Katie (Maddie Hasson) and scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin) joining him. Back in her lab, which is also not too far away, Nina claims that she was close to finding a way of defeating the creatures, or ‘reapers’ as the humans now call them, so she’d very much like to swing by there too. A previous attempt with Will’s wife Tara (Rachel Nicks) ended in the death of Tara, so there’s some tension between them now.

The creatures themselves appear to be pretty indestructible. Impervious to gunfire, and even a grenade launcher that they pick up along the way, they can sense the carbon dioxide we emit when breathing, so are pretty terrifying and formidable. There are a couple of pretty intense encounters on their journey to the hospital – one involving a ski lift and another as they traverse old mining tunnels and have to dip down a few levels for a while, all resulting in a frantic race to higher ground.
So, I had absolutely no problem with Elevation whatsoever. Yes, it’s similar to A Quiet Place. Yes, the dialogue is a little clunky at times. Yes, the 8000 feet thing is a bit stupid and no explanation for that is determined. No, we don’t know what the creatures are, where exactly they came from or why they came, other than one character theory related to God. But, despite all of that, I found it short (less than 90 minutes), intense at times and a pretty well-executed idea. Definitely worth a watch in my opinion.
Elevation will be available on Prime Video from 8th February

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Web developer by day, with a movie and TV watchlist that continues to grow as much as my spare time reduces! My favourite movie is Inception and, despite what everyone says, I do not have a man-crush on Tom Cruise.