Coincidentally, the release scheduling mimics the art of life in “Elevation,” which depicts America’s immediate future as both bleak and full of suspenseful peril. This isn’t a “civil war,” but a monster movie of sorts — one involving mysterious creatures that wipe out all of humanity living below 8,000 feet.
George Nolfi’s film reads more like an action film than a horror film, with Anthony Mackie playing a father whose son’s medical needs force him to venture into the danger zone. It’s a fairly taut post-apocalyptic survival story that makes up for a lack of original ideas with tight pacing and strong craft. It will launch vertically in approximately 1,400 US theaters on November 8, and is also scheduled to open in several other territories later this year.
The screenplay by John Glenn, Jacob Roman, and Kenny Ryan begins with a stretch of black screen, as we hear snippets of increasingly panicked news reports. It indicates a catastrophic series of natural disasters that can ultimately only prompt people to seek higher ground.
“Three years later,” the on-screen text notes indicate, and the Rocky Mountains look as stunning as ever. But as the boy who strayed below the confines of safety discovers – hoping to catch a glimpse of people other than those in his isolated settlement – they, too, now host tank-sized, fast-moving, and seemingly indestructible “reapers.” (These are basically non-flying dino insects that make noises reminiscent of the creatures in the “Alien” and “Predator” movies.) Those “giant killer insects that hatched out of the ground,” as one character here later puts it, have already emerged and killed off most life Conscious at low altitudes. Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr.), a curious and reckless 8-year-old, is lucky to have barely managed to avoid this fate.
But he feels lonely and miserable in “Lost Gulch Refuge,” an old mountain town whose current population of 200 or so includes no other children — nor Hunter’s mother, who has not returned from an ill-fated stay with neighbor Nina (Morena Baccarin). ) some time ago. That’s just one thing his father, Will (Mackey), holds against Nina, a misanthropic scientist who has convinced his wife to accompany her in hopes of getting to a Boulder lab where she might devise a deadly solution to the human pest problem.
Having somewhat reverted back to frontier times, complete with candlelight as primary lighting after dark, this village has become somewhat self-sufficient. But despite his adventurous streak, Hunter periodically has serious breathing problems, and Will has just used the last filter needed to power the oxygen machine that saves him during these unexpected attacks. Like it or not, Dad must venture down to Boulder in search of new supplies. Nina, as the only person to have fought monsters and lived, reluctantly agrees to accompany him, driven by the stubborn belief that she can invent a “magic bullet” that bypasses their defenses. Also inviting herself is Katie (Maddie Hasson), a young woman who is very fond of Will – and hates the aggressive Nina even more than he does.
What Katie calls “new predators on land” quickly sense new prey once the trio crosses the high line. Their first narrow escape is via a ski lift which they are able to make practical in time. Will figures out a way to reduce exposure by traveling part way through old mining tunnels – but it turns out the Harvesters are there too. Not everyone survives to reach the ruined city, though there is ultimately hope for our species… even if the sequence of signs, which keeps the door open for a potential sequel, suggests that more bad news may be coming from outer space.
In his fourth directorial feature after contributing to the screenplays for “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Ocean’s Twelve,” among others, Nolfi stretches the medium’s resources to the maximum to give “Elevation” a somewhat expansive feel. Cinematographer Shelley Johnson makes full use of widescreen for the gorgeous Colorado scenery, while Nathan McGuinness’s nasty four-legged enemies are seen just enough to satisfy, though editor Joel Viertel keeps them mostly in blink-and-an-eye reserve. H. Scott Salinas’ big orchestral score also helps pump up a film whose global crisis premise is somewhat at odds with the relative modesty of the spectacle on screen.
The performances also go a long way beyond the monster movie stuff, with Mackie (who also starred in Nolfi’s breakout 2020 drama “The Banker”) bringing his usual charisma and conviction. Baccarin creates a character who proves more relatable than she initially appears, while Hasson sympathetically takes on a less defined role.
Ultimately, “Elevation” doesn’t have the narrative or defining qualities to be truly memorable, even between individual scenes — it’s more in theory than a mixture of elements from “Pitch Black,” “Jurassic Park” and countless screen dystopian futures. Visions that grow more numerous every month. But it’s polished and exciting enough to make that familiarity a virtue, at least for an entertaining hour and a half.