Elevator (2013)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I guess I expected this to be a carbon copy of Devil, made bigger and brasher, that's not the case, the basic premise is the same, a group of strangers get trapped in a lift, but this time they're threatened by a bomb. We get bigotry, racism, stupidity, jealousy, recriminations, the nine characters each bring a lot to the table.Production values on the whole are solid, they played safe when making it let's say. The acting too is solid, the main issue is with the characters, none of them are particularly likable, why did everyone let the expectant mother search for the bomb? Shirley Knight a class above.Hard to define, definitely not a horror like Devil, more a thriller melodrama.. Plenty of tension. The ending is crazy.My review takes into account that it's a B movie, I'd imagine it didn't have much of a budget, but it's cheap and cheerful, with enough tension to keep you watching. Even after reading the generally negative reviews, I liked it. 7/10

nice plot. a group of strangers stuck in an elevator. very similar premise to M Night Shyamalan's Devil.The movie was engaging with a fast paced energy. We are introduced to the main characters - wealthy CEO (with spoilt grand daughter), investor, employees with history between them, CNN News Reporter, Security Guard and Comedian.The characters are all somehow related. The movie reveals pieces of the overall puzzle - which keeps the audience engaged. The biggest disappointment is when the 'villian' does the big reveal and there's no mystery anymore. Then it becomes a movie of people trying to survive - which is empty drama.Movie had potential to be really good. 4/10 because it lost the plot very early.

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.Donald Handley (tall Anglo executive; entitled to the hilt) and his fiancée 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; claustrophobic), Henry and Madeline (Henry's grandfather) Barton, and Celine Fouquet.Because George is claustrophobic, Madeline pushes the STOP button. She calls him a liar, he calls her an evil bitch. There's the start. The elevator will not start up again.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.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.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.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.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.Do they all make it out safely? ------Scores--------Cinematography: 10/10 Great looking exteriors. Excellent interiors. Most of the film is interior.Sound: 9/10 Mostly fine.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.Screenplay: 9/10 The story moves along well, and does not show internal contradictions. The human interactions were often touching.

Was drawn to this in Blockbuster after seeing Devil not too recently, following the elevator tragedy theme. I'd heard this movie is what Devil 'should have been', however it was not.The elevators nine clients lacked any real backdrop, very few watchable characters. No leading character that keeps the movies pace rolling. As all of the nine pawns are introduced early into the movie, as soon as you realize they're stuck in a confined space, there is no escape from the elevator, or the movies downfall.A claustrophobic who openly and loudly assaults the security guard with verbal racism THREE times in a crowded before he actually reacts? Don't think so.A father who willingly lets his pregnant-with-his-own-baby ex girlfriend touch a possible bomb? Maybe in Family Guy.Devil offers a far more superior story, characters offering more than stale performances so I suggest that choose that over this. However, story had potential, maybe with more financing or time or both this could have been more of a sequel to Devil (without the cameo from Satan).