First, let’s get this out of the way: We will talk about George Nolfi’s “Elevation” in a minute. Yes, it stars Anthony Mackie and Morena Baccarin, and takes place in a world where monsters have taken over the planet and the only safe place to live is over 8,000 feet. Yes, it’s a decent B-movie, flaws and all. But before we get there, we have to talk about the elephant in the room, because yes, this is also another “A Quiet Place,” and that’s not a criticism. It’s a neutral observation about a subgenre that’s currently being formed.
There’s a special place in the history books for films that inspire their own subgenre. “Night of the Living Dead,” “Die Hard” and “Halloween,” to name a few, spawned endless waves of knockoffs, some of which inspired subgenres of their own. And while none of these films can claim to have invented their formula out of whole cloth, they were financially successful movies that codified a template that other filmmakers could follow, to great success, over and over again.
It’s increasingly clear that “A Quiet Place” is one of these movies. John Krasinski’s hit sci-fi thriller imagined a world where monsters had killed off all of humanity, and the few people who survived now live in constant fear. There’s one simple thing they can never do again or else they’ll immediately die. When we meet our heroes they’ve established an uneasy equilibrium with this new way of life, but something happens that forces them out of their comfort zone and into harm’s way.
It’s a set-up that’s easy to emulate. Just switch out the taboo. In “A Quiet Place,” you’re not allowed to make a noise. In “Birdbox” you can’t take your blindfold off. In “Arcadian” you can’t go out at night. In “Never Let Go” you can’t [checks notes] ever let go. And since these films frequently take place in isolated locations with small casts, filmmakers can pull these “Quiet Place” riffs off without breaking the bank. No wonder we’re getting more and more of them.
“Elevation” is just the latest in this increasingly long line, and it’s one of the better ones. Not because it does anything new and playful with the premise, but because it’s got a solid cast and slick, thrilling direction. George Nolfi (“The Banker”) takes the formulaic concept and uses it as an excuse to build a few exciting set pieces, bookended with modest character drama, which only works because the stars are committed to the material, no matter how limp their dialogue can be.
Mackie stars as Will, who lives in the Rocky Mountains after giant bug-like monsters emerged from the ground and killed almost everybody in the world. If they step below the 8,000 foot line — clearly delineated with painted sticks — they’ll get killed very quickly. If they run past the line into safety, the monsters immediately give up for reasons the film cannot be bothered to explain. It looks like these creatures are playing an elaborate, life or death game of “The Floor is Lava,” and they are weirdly committed to their imaginary rules.
Will has a son, Hunter (Danny Boyd Jr., “Bruised”), who has breathing problems and needs an oxygen machine when he sleeps. But that machine needs filters, and Will is running out of them. He’s desperate, so he hatches a plan to hike to Boulder and loot them from a hospital, mostly staying above the 8,000 feet line except when the movie wants to pick up the pace and try to kill someone.
Along for the ride are Katie (Maddie Hasson, “Malignant”), who is in love with Will, and Nina (Morena Baccarin), who is in love with the idea of killing these monsters once and for all. She just needs to get to her lab in Boulder to test out her theory on how to do that. They’re all fine actors, but Baccarin wears world-weary well (try saying that five times fast), and is an especially perfect fit for this material.
That’s about all there is to it, really. It’s a journey from one set piece to another. There’s a particularly exciting scene where a monster is barreling down on them and they have to get an old ski lift working. Very entertaining stuff. There’s a bit in a mine shaft which is claustrophobic and intense. There are exactly enough thrills to fill a 90-minute movie, including the closing credits. No more and no less. So thank god “Elevation” is short or it probably would have stunk.
“Elevation” has very arbitrary monster rules, which is common in the “Quiet Place” genre, but also a lot of weirdly specific details that are just putting hats on other hats. It turns out the monsters can sense our CO2 emissions using a little red light on their tails, which is important for some reason. They also give off an energy signature that can be detected via compass, so that’s another thing that just kinda happens.
It’s clear by the end that the makers of “Elevation” have sequels on their minds, but also clear that they don’t want to get into any of the rationales for this very specific world yet. It might have been better if they hadn’t asked so many questions in the first place, because then it wouldn’t be so frustrating that only one of them is answered.
Also, and I’m going to forgive the movie for this, but there’s a scene where they just stumble across a grenade launcher. Were screenwriters Kenny Ryan and Jacob Roman playing a lot of “Fallout” when they came up with this? No shade if they were — it’s just fun to think about.
“Elevation” doesn’t elevate the material — which is the easiest sentence a critic could write about a movie called “Elevation,” but that doesn’t make it any less true. But if you accept that these knockoffs are increasingly of a piece, and playing with the conventions of a format for the fun of it (and for the profit), this is clearly one of the better takes on “A Quiet Place” so far. It adds little to the formula but it gets a lot out of it. It’s simple, effective and only elicits an occasional eye roll. It’s a B-grade B-movie and there’s nothing wrong with that.
