Elevation (2024) Action/Thriller - R -
An acceptable survival/apocalyptic thriller with basic themes of a father's love, and fighting for a greater cause. The monsters are the best part. For the oldest kids and the grownups.
Recommended for:
Kids-only movie night: No
Family movie night: No
Older kids movie night: Yes
Grownups only movie night: Yes
Overview: Elevation (2024) is a tense scifi thriller about survival and sacrifice, set in a world where deadly and awesome-looking alien monsters prevent humanity from living below 8,000 feet. The story follows Will, a devoted father, as he risks descending into the danger zone to secure lifesaving medicine for his sick son. Intense suspense, captivating action but mostly cliche, predictable, and filler conversations, it just has you wondering whether or not they’ll make it and wanting to see the awesome looking monsters in action one more time.
Sex/Nudity/Pornography: 1/10. A brief, crude joke from Nina about how she wants to bed Will. No explicit material. No romantic scenes are depicted, and the focus remains on survival.
Violence/Gore 4/10: The most intense and scariest scene is a jump scare where a character is pierced through the chest and dragged down a cave by a tentacle, though the scene is dimly lit, and blood is kept minimal. All other scenes are mainly thumping, cutting, hitting and explosions.
Drinking/Drugs/Smoking: 2/10. Nina drinks often but it’s shown that it negatively affects her because she’s hopeless. Will even hits her flask out of her hand one time. They all drink moderately together.
Cursing/Blasphemy: 4/10. The usual curse words to be expected in a survival movie.
Virtuous Examples: 7/10. The plot revolves around Will going down into the danger zone to save his sick son who is about to run out of medicine. Another character evolves from being hopeless to someone who chooses self-sacrifice to save the world.
Morality: 7/10. Will's actions are driven by love and a desire to protect his son, while Nina’s character arc shows redemption and growth. However, the grim setting and frequent peril make it a more tense watch, focusing more on survival instincts than moral lessons.
Conversation Starters:
There’s a conversation where Will asks Nina if she still believes in God after everything that is going wrong has gone wrong. Nina foolishly replies “I’m stubborn”, as if believing in God was ignoring the harsh realities of suffering, hinting at the atheist argument from evil and suffering. The best response to this is in this video:
Will risks everything for his son. Would you have the same courage in a similar situation? If you say you are willing to die for your kids, shouldn’t you also at least be willing to live for them? We can prepare for this by showing how much we love them through small daily sacrificial actions, so that when the ultimate sacrifice knocks on our door we are ready.
Quotes: They're Earth's new apex predators. And we're prey. So how do we take our place back? - Katie
Final Rating: 6.5/10. An acceptable and basic survival/apocalyptic thriller with basic themes of a father's love, and fighting for a greater cause. The monsters are the best part. For the oldest kids and the grownups. Intense suspense, captivating action but mostly cliche, predictable, and filler conversations, it just has you wondering whether or not they’ll make it and wanting to see the awesome looking monsters in action one more time. A Quiet Place is much better.