An efficient post-apocalyptic thriller, Elevation subscribes to the Quiet Place school of action streamlining: in this case, the remaining 5% of humanity must stay above an 8,000ft line; any lower, and they are prone to being set upon by Reapers, the giant insects that have conquered the planet. It is also reminiscent of Gareth Edwards’s Monsters in the way it frugally reveals its shield-bug-like monsters, and it has an intriguing enough final twist to suggest that a viable franchise might be on the cards.
Will (Anthony Mackie) lives in an isolated community at altitude with his son Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr). With everyone merely subsisting like “rats on a sinking ship”, he has to head down the mountain when the supply of air filters for Hunter’s asthma runs out; his route to Boulder, Colorado, only involves dipping below 8,000ft twice. So he ropes in embittered alcoholic scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin) – who thinks the research she left behind in the city might hold the key to defeating the critters – and his ballsy friend Katie (Maddie Hasson) to watch his back.
Director George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) is no slouch on the action front, with a dicey cable-car set piece, and a series of close-quarters Reaper encounters when the trio take the mines of Moria route under the mountain. But despite regular adrenaline spikes, Elevation never develops a distinctive identity of its own, and not just because it is so thoroughly derivative. (It even adds a second action parameter in the shape of the red proboscises with which the creatures detect carbon dioxide.)
Mainly it’s due to its stock and scant characterisation, both in terms of Will’s paternal mission and the not-that-interesting bickering with the nihilistic Nina. Mackie doesn’t help matters with a bland performance more suited to a mid-life crisis drama than a mockbuster about the fate of the civilised world; Baccarin does better injecting notes of repressed rage and eventual acquiescence with her past. But prospective future instalments might want to aim higher than mere competency.
• Elevation is on Prime Video from 8 February.
