As the planet’s future grows increasingly precarious and uncertain, films exploring a post-apocalyptic landscape are certainly having their moment in the sun, particularly ones featuring high-concept monster premises. This year alone saw the release of Arcadian, a low-budget thriller starring Nicolas Cage, E.L. Katz’s Azrael, and, more notably, A Quiet Place: Day One, the third installment of a franchise that famously features snarling behemoths who are attracted to noise. That sort of concept acts as a jumping-off point for Elevation, a dystopian creature feature that does not deal with sound but rather with height — specifically, thousands of miles above sea level. Working from a screenplay credited to John Glenn, Kenny Ryan, and Jacob Roman, director George Nolfi — who is perhaps best known for helming 2011’s The Adjustment Bureau — gives a go at realizing a world that exists solely on the peaks of mountains following the devastation of the human race. It’s certainly a novel conceit, but despite boasting some solid production values, Elevation ultimately remains too derivative, failing to inspire a single memorable image or thrilling moment that has not already been covered elsewhere.
Three years ago, a series of sinkholes suddenly opened and unleashed a torrent of monsters on the planet, decimating 95% of the entire population. Despite being seemingly indestructible, these beasts, known as reavers, were found to have one weakness: they could not ascend past an elevation of 8,000 feet. Earth’s remaining survivors have since scaled all the natural summits, establishing safe havens where the air is thin and physically bordered by “The Line.” In Colorado, an outpost known as Lost Gulch Refuge has a population of 193 inhabitants, tucked away high in the Rocky Mountains. Chief among these residents is Will (Anthony Mackie), a single father who lost his wife to reavers in a hunting expedition and who is now left alone to raise young son Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr.), who requires an oxygen machine to sleep through the night. Also around is Katie (Maddie Hasson), Will’s hunting companion, and Nina (Morena Baccarin), a cynical and world-weary veteran who spends her days addled with booze and manufacturing ammunition capable of piercing the reavers’ tough hide. When a component on Hunter’s oxygen machine fails, Will must make a perilous trek below The Line to an abandoned hospital in Boulder for a replacement part. Accompanied by Katie and Nina, the trio set out on the arduous journey, unsure of the horrors that await them.
Running 82 minutes before the end credits hit, Nolfi wastes no time bringing the audience up to speed with all of this. The plight of mankind is swiftly recounted in a rapid-fire series of radio broadcasts, communicating the hopelessness of the situation as the survivors are eventually driven to flee upward into the sky. Hunter then receives the first introduction, detailing what happens should one be foolish enough to venture below The Line into uncharted reaver territory. The community of Lost Gulch Refuge is explored, with those left behind shown to be making the best of a dire situation. Will, Katie, and Nina have all lost those closest to them, turning to alcohol to numb their grief. This is all established in quick order before the trio’s shared journey below The Line, and most of the film functions to flesh out a world abandoned by humans long ago.
As the details of this task make up the meat of the story, Nolfi makes sure to regularly serve up encounters with the reavers like clockwork. One extended set piece takes place on a slow-moving ski lift, while another notable one occurs in the depths of a subterranean tunnel system, where breathing becomes a hazard in confined spaces. There’s nothing technically wrong with any of these sequences, but they’re often far too reminiscent of films that have come before, diluting their overall effectiveness by relying on pre-existing familiarity. Mackie, Hasson, and Baccarin do what’s asked of them, but their three characters constitute an unusually unlikable bunch to spend time with, prone to fits of petty bickering while out on the trail. The reavers are also a disappointingly realized creation, brought to life via CGI as heavily-armored quadrupeds with vestigial tentacles. Cinematography by Shelly Johnson favors a cool blue palette, emphasizing a world leeched of existence, while the film’s score by H. Scott Salinas leans too heavily on your typical string arrangements to conjure an ominous atmosphere. And it’s precisely that failure to upset the film’s impression of recycled parts at nearly every opportunity that ultimately dooms the film, with viewers who’ve seen this year’s A Quiet Place installment likely to experience déjà vu, and that’s before taking stock of the past couple decades’ worth of post-apocalyptic style and iconography that pops up throughout. Nolfi has seemingly put all the pieces in the right places here, but he’s left with a film that feels fatally absent any identity of its own.
DIRECTOR: George Nolfi; CAST: Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson, Danny Boyd Jr.; DISTRIBUTOR: Vertical; IN THEATERS: November 8; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 30 min.
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