 Here we have one of those titles that, for me, was far more of a mere curiosity than something I was dying to see. You see, I have a bit of a thing for bottle movies like this, where there's not much going on, but the filmmakers can tell a solid story with what little they have to work with. Granted, they're not for everyone, but I love to see how much they can deliver with as little as they can - so far, I might say the record-holder is 'Buried', which I used as a Screening Suggestion for a phobia-themed month quite some time ago.
Having said that, I finally managed to watch this, but do have one simple regret, and that's that I didn't see it on as big of a screen as I could. You see, I'm a bit weak when it comes to things like heights (and various other things), so my adrenaline fix tends to come from edge-of-your-seat thrillers. I'm safe and secure in my theater seat, but can still feel that certain tingle in my stomach. Sure, it's no roller-coaster as most people can handle, but... it IS why "thriller" is a genre, to begin with. Anyway, this one, in case you couldn't tell, is ALL about playing on the audience's fears of unsafe heights; this was made for someone like me. Plot-wise, this mainly centers on a couple of thrill-seeking climbers; Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) who has recently lost her husband, Dan (Mason Gooding) in a climbing accident, and has since become terrified of her hobby, and her close friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner), who is determined to get Becky over her fears so she can live her life again. The goal Hunter sets for Becky is to, together, climb to the very top of a 2,000 foot radio tower. For reference, that is about a couple hundred feet higher than Toronto's CN Tower. As these movies go, however, once they make it to the top (in an array of dizzying scenes, tracking their climb), the main ladder falls off, stranding them. Now, Becky and Hunter (who is also a social media icon of sorts, and filming this whole climb) have to rely on what little they have to survive, try to get some kind of SOS message out, and battle the dry, arid desert air along with circling vultures, just waiting for the two to give up. Even having seen this on my smaller screen, there was enough here to make my stomach churn just a little bit, meaning that quite honestly, the film did exactly what it should have done. In many ways, this worked out to be the bottle thriller that I wanted, and it even takes a few really dark and somewhat unexpected turns, which I quite enjoyed. A lot of the idea of a movie like this is to portray sheer hopelessness, and I have to say that this covered that well. Make no mistake, however. For as much as I praise the film, it's not without bits and pieces that may not be entirely realistic, and like any bottle movie like this, there's not a whole lot going on. We get to know our characters a little bit in order to route for their survival, but keep in mind that this is a couple of girls on top of a tower for about an hour and forty minutes. So it's definitely one of those acquired taste deals, and if you have no use for bottle movies like this then I can't say I recommend it super highly. However, if you're like me and like to see how creative a film can be by using very little, and/or are a thrill-seeker of film, then it's a decent title altogether. To close, there's a bonus to the film, as well as a pretty genuine complaint. The good news is that I haven't mentioned the name of Jeffery Dean Morgan yet, who plays Becky's father. He's not a big part of the film, but he's a solid name to have on it, and one of those guys everyone seems to collectively enjoy. The complaint though, and this IS kind of a big deal, is that it ends very abruptly. I even ended up rewinding it to see what I happened to miss, and it wasn't much. So if you plan on checking this out, just keep that in mind. Otherwise, this is a solid title for those who can appreciate this type of movie, and can just sort of go on a thrill ride with it. 3/5
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