"Altitude" defies logic, science and common sense in a manner so blatant to border on contempt for the audience.
For example:
Automobiles have sensors to warn the driver of various problems. Even motorcycles have switched that prevent operation if the kickstand is down. But the commercial passenger jet in this movie takes off without the pilot knowing that a door is open.
Part of the plot involves switching out a major component on the plane, but components on aircraft are serialized and extensive records are maintained of all maintenance operations, ensuring the switch would be discovered.
At one point the plane takes off with somebody more than halfway outside the door. The takeoff speed for Jet aircraft in the 130 – 155 knot range, which is the speed of major hurricane winds, powerful enough to flip over vehicles and blow barns away. Anybody clinging to the door would be swept away.
At one point, two individuals do a tandem parachute jump simply holding on to one another. When a parachute is deployed, the individual experiences a jerk of 3 – 4 g. I believe this means somebody weighing 120# will momentarily seem to weigh about 420#. You really need sturdy straps and harnesses for a tandem jump.
The plot entails an elaborate scheme to hijack an aircraft in order to steal something being carried by one of the passengers when it would seem much easier to hijack the guy's taxi or limousine on the way to the airport.
The film also defies logic by getting made in the first place. Each year, about 50,000 scripts are registered with WGA. Probably an equal number are written, but not registered. In 2015, 727,000 new books were self-published. While not all were novels, there are countless stories written each year that could be adapted as screenplays. Why would anybody invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in a script with obvious problems when there are countless better scripts that could be acquired at modest expense? As a writer, I've read dozens of better scripts and novels that could be adapted and produced on a comparable budget. It seems grotesquely inequitable that a writer is able to sell a script that is poorly researched and constructed when so many better scripts can't even get read.
Dolph Lundgren and Denise Richards do as well as can be expected with the material they're given. The glaring incongruities and implausibilities shatter the willful suspension of disbelief and the story isn't sufficiently interesting or involving to sweep the audience along. The characters aren't particularly likable or interesting. Without impressive fight choreography, chase scenes or special effects, the film needs either a fascinating plot or interesting characters, but offers neither.
For example:
Automobiles have sensors to warn the driver of various problems. Even motorcycles have switched that prevent operation if the kickstand is down. But the commercial passenger jet in this movie takes off without the pilot knowing that a door is open.
Part of the plot involves switching out a major component on the plane, but components on aircraft are serialized and extensive records are maintained of all maintenance operations, ensuring the switch would be discovered.
At one point the plane takes off with somebody more than halfway outside the door. The takeoff speed for Jet aircraft in the 130 – 155 knot range, which is the speed of major hurricane winds, powerful enough to flip over vehicles and blow barns away. Anybody clinging to the door would be swept away.
At one point, two individuals do a tandem parachute jump simply holding on to one another. When a parachute is deployed, the individual experiences a jerk of 3 – 4 g. I believe this means somebody weighing 120# will momentarily seem to weigh about 420#. You really need sturdy straps and harnesses for a tandem jump.
The plot entails an elaborate scheme to hijack an aircraft in order to steal something being carried by one of the passengers when it would seem much easier to hijack the guy's taxi or limousine on the way to the airport.
The film also defies logic by getting made in the first place. Each year, about 50,000 scripts are registered with WGA. Probably an equal number are written, but not registered. In 2015, 727,000 new books were self-published. While not all were novels, there are countless stories written each year that could be adapted as screenplays. Why would anybody invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in a script with obvious problems when there are countless better scripts that could be acquired at modest expense? As a writer, I've read dozens of better scripts and novels that could be adapted and produced on a comparable budget. It seems grotesquely inequitable that a writer is able to sell a script that is poorly researched and constructed when so many better scripts can't even get read.
Dolph Lundgren and Denise Richards do as well as can be expected with the material they're given. The glaring incongruities and implausibilities shatter the willful suspension of disbelief and the story isn't sufficiently interesting or involving to sweep the audience along. The characters aren't particularly likable or interesting. Without impressive fight choreography, chase scenes or special effects, the film needs either a fascinating plot or interesting characters, but offers neither.