One of the prettiest depictions of a post-apocalyptic scenario you’ll see on screen, Elevation benefits from the stunning Rocky Mountain backdrop in which its survivors make their home but is otherwise an efficiently generic action sci-fi. Director George Nolfi is adept at some stirring set pieces, but the constant presence of other, better films looms as large as the alien threat.

Only 5% of humanity remains after a race of bug-like creatures known as reapers crawled up from the ground and made short work of the world’s population. The leftovers have survived by living more than 8000ft above sea level, that being the seemingly arbitrary level above which the reapers won’t cross. Will (Anthony Mackie) lives a relatively calm existence with his son, but when the air filters for his son’s asthma machine runs out, Will must make the perilous trip to Boulder, Colorado for more with friend Katie (Maddie Hasson) in tow. Nihilistic scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin) decides to come too, to test a theory she believes may lead to a breakthrough against the bulletproof bugs.

It’s impossible not to feel the shadows of the A Quiet Place juggernaut in Elevation‘s high concept, but done on the shoestring of Gareth Edwards’ Monsters. Like Edwards breakout, it’s sparing with its beasties, perhaps slightly by design, but mainly out of necessity. Instead, it focuses mainly on the central trio and their quest. The characters are fairly thinly drawn and the dialogue is dense with exposition, but there’s a weariness with their situation that speaks of the loss of countless family and friends. Baccarin is especially convincing playing against type as a hard-drinking, soul-scarred shell who’s kept alive by hooch and vengeance. Despite the actors’ best efforts however, the writing never finds a way to clue the audience in without dialogue that would be unnatural to people who have been in the same situation for years.

The action scenes fare better. The reapers are a little bit shonkily executed, but Nolfi’s direction and some brisk cutting cover a lot of the cracks. In tandem the direction and editing do create a fair amount of tension, and you get a real sense of what a threat the reapers carry. Will and his companions never feel like a match for the beasts, and spend most of their encounters putting the running into running battle.

Far from dreadful but a similar distance from being memorable, Elevation pretty much achieves its aims of being a streamlined, low-budget sci-fi with at least a passing interest in bigger themes. It certainly looks at grief and trauma less bluntly than a lot of prestige horror des nowadays. It just never gets past some basic writing and the ever-present knowledge of the better movies on which it riffs.

Available on Prime Video from Sat 8 Feb 2025