Altitude (2010) Reviews

• A movie about the most unlikable group of teens on a plane

  dragonkings012010-10-18

  A female novice pilot who has no business driving a car much less flying a plane, decides to take the most unlikeable group of friends on a plane ride for reasons really unknown. Her mom died on a plane, so I guess she wanted to die too or something. her friends include the most annoying jock character written, a undeveloped boyfriend character (a most important character by the end for some random reason), a love lost emo and a shallow best friend. They end up in a mysterious cloud, things happen that really don't make sense and the ending you see coming a mile away. The main girl is a raging c-word to her pointless boyfriend (apparently this is a important plot point?). These kids sans the boyfriend remind you of the popular kids you hated in high school. The positives reviews Have to be plants from the industry. Avoid this film, the premise is awful and you end up wanting whatever it is in the cloud to eat them faster. Note to writers of these films, stop writing for the twilight, jersey shore crowd and make the characters quasi likable so the viewer can be emotionally invested, I was more sympathetic to whatever was in the clouds than these people.

• Half-baked Idea ruined by bad script.

  Rabh172010-10-31

  First off-- the premise of the movie was intriguing: An airplane takes off for a trip with a young Girl Pilot and her friends. A mechanical mishap sends it off into a dark cloud in another dimension where dark things lurk. THAT was the basic premise that caught my interest. A bit of Twilight Zone. A piece of Stephen King. A dash of Outer limits, maybe. . . THEN I actually WATCHED the movie. What ruined it principally was the casting: No, I don't blame the Actors themselves, but the Character/Plot premise that presupposes that any story stocked with good-looking young adults posing as Teenagers acting out the normal angst, trivia and emotional immaturity of Teenagers is somehow Must-Watch Movie-Making. Uhm. . NOT. The second flaw was the script. Again, teen angst, teen bickering, off-the-cuff fist fights, Teen boyfriend-girlfriend drama and immature cursing may work in your generic stock Haunted House or dark abandoned Mental Institution, but NOT in the small cabin of a twin engine turbo-prop. And the fact that the titular star of the story, the young female pilot, spent most of her time facing BACKWARD and participating in the on-going fracas instead of FOCUSING ON FLYING THE PLANE adds to the unbelievability. And I must say that while I know that what we call blithely 'Autopilot' automation is actually VERY ADVANCED Technology that is WAY BEYOND COOL today-- the several times that the pilot gets OUT OF THE SEAT (Remember, she HAS NO CO-PILOT) and CLIMBS into the back seat to have heated emotional showdowns while a plane FULL OF FRIGHTENED TEENAGERS Flies itself. . .and NO-ONE even says: WOULD YOU PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO FLYING THE PLANE, LADY?!? That beggars belief. The movie would have been a better, deeper thriller had it been cast with character-study adults as opposed to a bunch of bickering teens. If you want to watch this-- Rent it - Don't Buy. And rent it as a group event with your friends-- and be ready to tear it apart as the action ensues.

• Give this film a chance....

  bbjonw2016-07-09

  I first watched this film shortly after it came out. I remembered it as being 'memorable', without really remembering too much about the characters or the plot. Watching it again now, I have to say I really enjoyed it. OK, you have to suspend some disbelief on the plane-flying front - there have obviously been quite a few reviews by critics with pilot's licenses (no doubt attracted by the title) and certainly there are a lot of highly unlikely flying technicalities to be overlooked. However - this film is really a sort of Lovecraftian sci-fi chiller, and let's face it - how many such films would work if they had to be technically accurate? In reality in this case, the girl would never even have got to hire the plane, let alone get into trouble in it. The cast are a uniformly pretty unpleasant and dim bunch, and it's nice to see them getting knocked off one by one, but I wouldn't say they were bad actors. I could well imagine that if you took a group of college kids and put them in a 'stress' situation like this for real, you would see exactly the sort of mental and social breakdown portrayed here. For the most part the script actually treads a well-chosen line between teenage banality and the needs of the plot. There are a few corny bits in the dialogue between the 'teenagers', and there is a strong temptation to keep saying to the screen 'so maybe you should fly the plane now?' but this is really the practical result of filming a minimal number of actors in the confines of a 6-seater cabin - if the pilot had to sit in front of the controls facing forward the whole time, she would only have a bit part in the movie! The plot has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, and the sky monster is neatly explained. I cannot imagine why some reviewers have slated its 'realism' when (as explained by the plot) it isn't quite 'real' anyway and so doesn't have to conform to a scientifically-viable form. OK, the CGI isn't brilliant, but at DVD quality you can't see too much detail, and it's really all about the 'lost in the dark' atmosphere rather than the monster effects. The filming is - within the limits of the budget and the CGI - good and imaginative. No, it isn't Avatar, but the director does a good job with what he's got. I don't understand reviewers who continually criticise the filming standards of low-budget monster movies. You have to show the monster eventually, and no money = rubber monster. If they can't understand that, they shouldn't bother watching and reviewing such films. The ending has a nice twist which neatly ties everything together, but I think the immensity of the concept behind the ending - and the great suspension of incredulity necessary to appreciate it - left a lot of reviewers with a bad taste in their mouths. I think most reviewers just wanted the entire cast to die horribly, and gave the movie a low score when it finally appeared they might not have.... If you enjoy Lovecraftian films, and can suspend some disbelief for 90 minutes, 'Altutude' is an enjoyable Friday night's viewing.

• Stupidest. Movie. Ever.

  tntpucca2010-11-18

  First, this film is so technically ridiculous, a little research could have helped it a bit. But just a tiny bit. If you're going to make a movie about four teens in a small airplane, maybe you could at least do some research on General Aviation 101-- since flying is the entire setting of your film. Like how a young pilot like that doesn't just rent a 6-seat twin engine plane like it's a Hyundai Sonata, while she doesn't even have her Instrument Rating (typically a must for planes of that size.) Then there are stupid script misses like the fact that our Pilot Heroine blames the plane's malfunctioning altimeter on "magnetic disturbances." Altimeters are affected by air pressure. Not magnetism. Script bloopers like that abound in this one. Come on, writers. It was like shooting a story set in New York City then showing the characters walk up to a hot dog stand...and order sushi. Bad research. Technicalities aside, prepare for a lame flick that basically consists only of a bunch of teens yelling at each other that they're going to die. For an hour. Some here say the film had an awesome Twilight Zone ending. Really? Where was it? There was an attempt at a twist-- but when the credits rolled, I still didn't even know what that supposed twist was supposed to be. (WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER!) Was there time travel involved? Ghosts? Sixth Sense type stuff? Huh? And if you think that's dumb, you should see what great heroic act turns everything Hunky Dory. You'll gag. Disappointing.

• This movie deserves the time to write a review

  phaenomenalbert2010-10-24

  My professor once said: always start with something positive. Let me try: The cast is easy on the eye. And that's about the only positive thing I can come up with. Very, very poor acting. Seriously. Totally ridiculous plot. Someone said it was well shot. I would have to watch it again to find that one frame he must have been referring to. I certainly missed that one. The music... I don't remember. I've never bothered writing reviews. Ever. This time I just felt it is my responsibility. By all means, go and see for yourself. But you have been warned – at least, try to not spend any money. Give it to charity instead and make my headline come true. And no, I am not a wanna be actor who is just jealous. I simply love watching movies. Not this one.