20131204: Thriller Review--Elevator

Elevator

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2011, NR, 80 minutes, thriller.  Spoken word is in English. Aspect, 2.35
2. IMDB: 5.2/10.0 from 2,887 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 500,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet...' and 24% liked it from 368 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 197,114 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Stig Svendsen.
6. Starring: Christopher Backus as Don Handley, Anita Briem as Celine Fouquet, John Getz as Henry Barton, Shirley Knight as Jane Redding, Michael Mercurio as The Bombmaker, (Amanda,Rachel) Pace as Madeline Barton, Devin Ratray as Martin Gossling, Joey Slotnik as George Axelrod, Tehmina Sunny as Maureen Asana, Waleed Zuaiter as Mohammed, Gary Ambrosia as Lt. Carson.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens to someone making a bomb which he tells an unseen guest will kill anyone within five meters.  Then we have a variety of shots of a rich city in twilight.  Various people get ready to go to the Barton Building in New York City.  They end up in the same elevator A.


2. Donald Handley (tall Anglo executive; entitled to the hilt) and his fiancee Maureen Asana (reporter), Jane Redding (older lady, drinks hard liquor before leaving),  Martin Gossling (middle aged, Anglo, heavy set), Don's assistant, George Axelrod (comedian, immediately attacks Don's assistant with racist humour; claustrophobe), Henry and Madeline (Henry's grandfather) Barton, and Celine Fouquet.


3. Because George is claustrophobic, Madeline pushes the STOP button.  She calls him a liar, he calls her an evil bitch.  There's the starting point of the film.  The elevator will not start up again.


4. Building security has no idea what to do.  Barton talks to his wife on his cell; he tells her he's stuck.  They call security again; a variety of excuses are offered up.  Barton asks for the security man's name; he hangs up and cannot be reached again.


5. Celine is pregnant, by Don; this takes a while to come out openly. They work in the same department, so Maureen wonders why Don did not greet her.  A bit later, Celine has to urinate, much to everyone else's consternation.


6. George is Jewish; Don's assistant is Muslim as George suspected.  He manages to insult Maureen (Indian heritage) directly as well.  The battle lines are drawn, verbally at least.


7. Jane's son died in Iraq.  The emotional fallout depressed her husband Neal, and they hoped to start sailing with their savings. However,  'Barton Investments lost all our money.'  Don was the one who suggested the loser investments.  Barton himself more or less shrugged it off.  "I don't mean to sound callous," says Barton, "it's always the investor's decision."  That did not go over well.  Jane sees that her bomb will not quite go off as expected because the elevator stopped.  She dies of heart failure.


8. Maureen starts a newscast from the elevator via her cell phone.  Barton keeps saying losses are the client's responsibility.  Great stuff.  Celine gets stuck with patting down Jane's corpse for bomb paraphernalia; sure enough, Jane had strapped on a bomb. Martin helps Don see if they can egress via the ceiling.  Barton gets a call from his wife, who has heard the news through the television broadcasts.


9. Do they all make it out safely?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Nine people trapped in an elevator find a bomb with them.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Great looking exteriors.  Excellent interiors.  Most of the film is interior.


2. Sound: 9/10 Mostly fine.


3. Acting: 10/10  Shirley Knight, John Getz, and Devin Ratray are veterans who know how to act.  Joey Slotnik is a veteran as well, and served as a very abrasive thorn.  The rest were competent or better.  The twins did reasonably well as the villain the piece, the incredibly rotten grand daughter.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 The story moves along well, and does not show internal contradictions.  The human interactions were often touching.