There is no coincidence if this movie is familiar to you as starts watching since to be honest is a very generic one, with a most recent some what successful franchise like "A Quiet Place", the classic post apocalyptic monster genre that has been flooded with similar concept. Elevation (2024) does have its decent moments with a solid cast, it ultimately feels like it's following a formula rather than breaking new ground. The movie is develop in Colorado Rocky Mountains from the start makes it beautiful scenery to watch, just a stunning backdrop for all the action that unfolds but other than that there is nothing new to it making it a kinda very average movie at least for me, its not terrible but not one that I would watch more than twice, in my opinion this is the classic cable movie that you watch whenever it comes up and have a good time but latter forget about it.
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Its been three years after creatures called "Reapers" came out from the ground, this monsters have been notice not to go over 8000 feet in elevation and have wipe out a big part of human population. As the main character we got Will played by Anthony Mackie who lives with his young son Hunger; played by Danny Boyd Jr. They happen to live in the mountains above 8000 feet from sea level, that magical elevation number that Reapers wont get to, if that's the case it has to be either a body pressure issue or they just can't breath but they never really explain it during the movie. Hunter suffers from a respiratory condition that requires a machine to keep him breathing, specially at such altitude where air is so thin. The machine use some specific filters and they ran out of them so now Will has to go find out but this means getting bellow 8000 feet exposing himself to get attack by Reapers, a women called Nina, played by Morena Baccarin, who is friends with will, she was with Will's wife when she was killed by Reapers on an expedition, so she is decided to find a way to kill them all, there is also Katie; played by Maddie Hasson, who team up with them and the trio, two women and man go into Reaper territory using old mining tunnels to minimize exposure and trying to stay above the 8k feet elevation mark. Reaper has this ability to detect humans by their C02 emissions using their tentacles, this is where I start laughing, when you think about it they actually twisted around other movies plot and details to make a new one, I know most things on Earth under the son has been talked or invented when it comes to the big screen so we get this kind of cases from time to time. The trio is not only in search for Hunter's machine filter but Nina is after some materials to create an alloy she believes might penetrate the Reapers skin, this way giving humans a weapon to fight back against this new predator.
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Anthony Mackie brings his usual charisma making him a very relatable protagonist but been honest the script doesn't give him much to work with, playing a role of a father who will risk everything to save his son, makes it a very average character and doesn't give him much depth other than the motivation that he shows during the movie to achieve his goal. After all Mackie does a great job as been the leader bringing creativity and emotions to his characters on scenes that would probably fall flat if it wasn't for him. Second character on the lineup that standout is Nina; played by Morena Baccarin, a scientist who is also seeking revenge after her friend, Will's wife was killed by the Reapers, through out the movie she shows to be a very brave character that evolves scene after scene making it look that she actually earn her bars after her heroism. Danny Boyd Jr. playing the role of Hunter will make you feel for the young guy, but to be honest they both the characters of Katie and Hunter don't have much development mainly because the script doesn't give hem much to work with it, the production of the movie visually doesn't felt cheap but the script does.
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Towards the end of the movie there is the sensation that it want's to at least keep the door open for a sequel but I think it would be very bad rather than productive after how average this movie was. At least Nina gets to test her theory about what might turn into a weapon to exterminate Reapers, creating a special alloy that can penetrate their armor. She manage to kill one of the creatures as prove it can be done and now humanity might have a fighting chance after all. This is when that door for a sequence opens up, suggesting that as long as humans stay above 8000 feet and start producing this alloy they could slowly but surely can keep going up and down to hunt Reapers without needing much to protect themself at times other than staying above the 8k elevation mark, at this time might be just me thinking that could be a possibility for a sequel with an ending to the story so predictable but its money grabbing Hollywood. At first when Reapers came out everyone thought they came from under the ground like they were natural monsters living underground and Nina discover Reapers were Aliens when they saw them explode when they were shoot with this bullets they recently develop, but it is more a kind of assumption rather than a proven theory since I don't remember them quite explaining the why of this, they just knew they could blow them up with their new weapon.
I think I have explain the pro and cons I have seen on the movie so far, its an entertaining movie but rather a very used concept, what I enjoy from it is the monsters details that some have not been used before like the elevation mark and how they detect humans, similar to in "A Quite Place" where monsters are blind. The plot has several holes with questions or statements that are not explained or answered, the dialogue is kinda cringe at times and part of it very predictable. I know it seems like I'm complaining a lot about it but this doesn't mean I found it entertaining because I went through the hole movie without wanting to stop it, this movie is way better than the reviews it has been given online, the possibility of a Prequel or Sequel is still there, if I had to choose one would prefer a Prequel since it might have a chance to give more context to the movie lifting the story up and even potentially find a north to it better than what this movie did at its first try.
