Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Altitude (2010)

Sarah, whose Mom died while piloting a plane that crashed, is a new pilot who rents a plane to take her friends to a concert.  While on their way, the plane has mechanical problems. Sarah, who is only rated to fly when she has can see the ground, ends up above the dark threatening clouds, loses contact with the tower, and discovers the plane is low on fuel.  Oh, and there may be some sort of monster outside the plane that's trying to kill them, plus the plane is so high its icing up.  Yay!

While in the middle of the crisis, Sarah chooses to have a talk with her boyfriend and leaves someone else with no flight experience to monitor the autopilot.  Since she's going off to college next year, she has decided to dump him, clearly not the proper time to reveal this bit of news.  Then she gets angry at him when she finds out his plans for next year were not what she thought.  Who cares, you just dumped him.

Throughout the flight, Sarah proves why it's a bad idea to rent planes to teenagers. (I'm surprised you can even do that since they can't rent cars).  She does everything except fly the plane: breaking up a fight; sitting in the back while the autopilot is on; getting philosophical with her jerk friend; and letting her boyfriend fly the plane even though he is terrified and doesn't want to do it.

The characters are stereotypes - nasty jock, girl with camera who documents everything, lost love interest, shy guy who doesn't fit in, etc.

In one of the more ridiculous moments, Corey goes outside the plane to try to fix the stuck flaps while tethered to a rope.  Seriously?  He doesn't want to take the only parachute as it may get in his way and anyway, he's an awesome rock climber.

I would have enjoyed this more if there were more monster in it.  They appear to be going for a Twilight Zone type of twist, but it isn't satisfying and is a let down.  Also you don't care about the people on the plane because they aren't very likable, and at least one is downright despicable.


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