With having arrived to pick up some relatives from a coach station in my local town centre,I was disappointed to find out shorty after arriving,that the coach was delayed,and would not arrive for three more hours.Due to hoping that I could find something to help time move faster,I went to the near by cinema,and found out that one film was about to start,and with for reason getting Melissa George confused for Susan George (!!),I decided that I would go and watch this extremely gripping,moody British thriller.
The plot:
After resting for the night,a group of five mountaineers start to climb one of the most dangerous mountains in the Scotish highlands.Shortly at the start of the climb,one of the mountain climbers tells everyone to stop.With the mountain falling to silence,the climbers hear a mysterious scream from near by.Rushing to find the source of the voice,the group are shocked to discover that the voice is coming from someone who has been buried underground!.
Nervously digging up the ground,the group end up finding out that the voice has come from a young Serbian girl (Anna),who has been buried alive in a pit. Desperate to get the girl to safety,the group decide to spilt up,with three of them going down the longest route of the mountain with the girl,and the other two going down the shortest,but deadliest route of the mountain,so that the local police can be told about the girl as fast as possible.
Around the half way point of their dangerous drop,the two mountaineers attempting the short cut have their rope cut,by two men who are hoping to get 6 million Euros from an ex-KGB agent,for the return of his kidnapped daughter.This leads to one of them falling to their death,and the other (Alison) being left badly injured.Realiseing that the two kidnappers will do anything possible to get to the girl,Alison rushes to help the three other climbers protect the girl,although with the kidnappers having their sights locked on getting the girl and shooting anything in their way,the climbers start their deadliest journey ever.
View on the film:
During the credits,I was very surprised that the actress who plays Anna (Holly Boyed) was making her debut with this film.For her performance,Boyed avoids the two pitfalls which young actors/actresses can so easily fall into,with Anna neither being a miss goody-too- shoes,or an annoyingly, intelligent brat,that the audience is desperate to see thrown off the cliff!Instead Boyed brilliantly shows Anna to be someone,that is really scared about being in this unknown place,who is also ready to use her brains and cleverly hide for her survival.
Although director Julian Gilbey, (who co-wrote and co-edited the film with his brother Will)does give Alison and Anna's growing,almost mother-daughter relationship more than a few bits from Newt's and Ripley's friendship in James Cameron 1986 Sci-Fi action classic Aliens,Mellisa George is still able to make the character into much more than a simple Ripley clone,by showing that Alison is the main person in the group who helps to keep some of the more egotistical members of the group on track,whilst having to accept the possibility,that the people who she thought would be there to help Anna,may actually be as dangerous as the kidnappers.
Looking at the film credits of Julian and Will Gilbey,it is very easy to see this film as a strong transitional piece.For his great directing Julian gives the film an unexpected "vast" appearance,with the beautiful highlands in Scotland also giving the first half of the film some strong "wilderness horror" elements.As the plan of the kidnappers starts to be unleashed in the tense screenplay,the brothers introduce the "gangster" side of their past film,that they superbly blend into the survival-thriller elements of the film,which really helps to make the last thirty minutes of the film,a truly thrilling survival,wilderness thriller,with a gangster edge.
Final view on the film:
A strong performance by Mellisa George,and a brilliant performance by first-timer Boyed.With Julian Gilbey showing an impressive "wide" vision for the film,and the screenplay expertly blending several genres to create an extremely gripping,tense film,which deserves to do very well when it comes out on November in the US.
The plot:
After resting for the night,a group of five mountaineers start to climb one of the most dangerous mountains in the Scotish highlands.Shortly at the start of the climb,one of the mountain climbers tells everyone to stop.With the mountain falling to silence,the climbers hear a mysterious scream from near by.Rushing to find the source of the voice,the group are shocked to discover that the voice is coming from someone who has been buried underground!.
Nervously digging up the ground,the group end up finding out that the voice has come from a young Serbian girl (Anna),who has been buried alive in a pit. Desperate to get the girl to safety,the group decide to spilt up,with three of them going down the longest route of the mountain with the girl,and the other two going down the shortest,but deadliest route of the mountain,so that the local police can be told about the girl as fast as possible.
Around the half way point of their dangerous drop,the two mountaineers attempting the short cut have their rope cut,by two men who are hoping to get 6 million Euros from an ex-KGB agent,for the return of his kidnapped daughter.This leads to one of them falling to their death,and the other (Alison) being left badly injured.Realiseing that the two kidnappers will do anything possible to get to the girl,Alison rushes to help the three other climbers protect the girl,although with the kidnappers having their sights locked on getting the girl and shooting anything in their way,the climbers start their deadliest journey ever.
View on the film:
During the credits,I was very surprised that the actress who plays Anna (Holly Boyed) was making her debut with this film.For her performance,Boyed avoids the two pitfalls which young actors/actresses can so easily fall into,with Anna neither being a miss goody-too- shoes,or an annoyingly, intelligent brat,that the audience is desperate to see thrown off the cliff!Instead Boyed brilliantly shows Anna to be someone,that is really scared about being in this unknown place,who is also ready to use her brains and cleverly hide for her survival.
Although director Julian Gilbey, (who co-wrote and co-edited the film with his brother Will)does give Alison and Anna's growing,almost mother-daughter relationship more than a few bits from Newt's and Ripley's friendship in James Cameron 1986 Sci-Fi action classic Aliens,Mellisa George is still able to make the character into much more than a simple Ripley clone,by showing that Alison is the main person in the group who helps to keep some of the more egotistical members of the group on track,whilst having to accept the possibility,that the people who she thought would be there to help Anna,may actually be as dangerous as the kidnappers.
Looking at the film credits of Julian and Will Gilbey,it is very easy to see this film as a strong transitional piece.For his great directing Julian gives the film an unexpected "vast" appearance,with the beautiful highlands in Scotland also giving the first half of the film some strong "wilderness horror" elements.As the plan of the kidnappers starts to be unleashed in the tense screenplay,the brothers introduce the "gangster" side of their past film,that they superbly blend into the survival-thriller elements of the film,which really helps to make the last thirty minutes of the film,a truly thrilling survival,wilderness thriller,with a gangster edge.
Final view on the film:
A strong performance by Mellisa George,and a brilliant performance by first-timer Boyed.With Julian Gilbey showing an impressive "wide" vision for the film,and the screenplay expertly blending several genres to create an extremely gripping,tense film,which deserves to do very well when it comes out on November in the US.