Altitude

Altitude follows Jessica Lowndes’ Sara as she and a group of friends (Julianna Guill’s Mel, Ryan Donowho’s Cory, Landon Liboiron’s Bruce, and Jake Weary’s Sal) embark on a trip in a small plane that she’s piloting, with problems ensuing as Sara loses control of the aircraft and subsequently flies straight into a seemingly neverending system of storm clouds. In its early stages, Altitude comes off as a familiar yet entertaining thriller that’s buoyed by the inclusion of several admittedly engrossing sequences – including an exciting interlude in which a character climbs out onto the wing of the plane to fix a malfunctioning part. It is, as a result, initially rather easy to overlook the movie’s pervasive lack of compelling protagonists, as scripter Paul A. Birkett offers up a selection of hopelessly one-dimensional figures that spend much of the running time arguing and bickering with one another. The continued emphasis on the characters’ melodramatic squabbles effectively (and ultimately) drains the film of both its energy and momentum, however, with the progressively stagnant atmosphere preventing certain revelations in the third act from packing the punch that Birkett has clearly intended. By the time the laughable, utterly absurd twist ending rolls around, Altitude has established itself as a disappointingly misguided effort that, for the most part, comes off as a Twilight Zone episode that’s been ungainly expanded to feature length.

*1/2 out of ****