Sunday, February 4, 2024

No Way Up - A Suspenseful Enough Survival Thriller Drama

Yesterday my wife and I were planning to see the latest Hollywood movie released in the cinemas. But it was not playing in that many theaters and by the time we finally reached the place where we want to see it, the studio was already filled so we decided to see another one instead. All right then, let us find out more on this movie.

Brief Story Line

Ava (Sophia McIntosh - Brave New World TV series etc) with her boyfriend Jed (Jeremias Amoore - Zero Chill TV series etc) and their best friend Kyle (Will Attenborough - The Outpost etc) were planning on a holiday trip. As the child of governor, Ava was accompanied by her bodyguard Brandon (Colm Meaney - Star Trek: The Next Generation, Hell of Wheels TV series etc). 

During the flight to the location, there were other passengers including a kid named Rosa (Grace Nettle) who was travelling with her grandmother Mardy (Phyllis Logan - Secret & Lies etc) and grandfather Hank (James Carrol Jordan - Rich Man, Poor Man Book II TV series etc). There was also flight attendant Danilo (Manuel Pacific - Ride TV series etc) but not too many people as it was the earliest flight. 

Unfortunately the flight got into trouble and fell into the ocean. Now the survivors had to save themselves from the danger all around them. So how would  the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

It was funny when the film was released on Friday, I was thinking of seeing it in the theater near our home, but due to heavy rain and traffic I was unable to make it in time. My wife was not really keen either as it had the element of one of her greatest fear, sharks. Anyway she immediately regret and kept on screaming at me whenever they appeared in the movie. Which obviously was one of the main attraction here. And if the idea was to thrill the audience, I think it was pretty successful.

However, sometimes we were a bit annoyed with the characters as they could be a little irritating with their behaviors. But the thing that made me personally not satisfied were few of the illogical parts especially towards the end. Though we did not usually care for such things in a movie, it was a bit hard to ignore as it was too obvious. There was also one scene that we thought should not have happened involving Rosa after a major occurence.

When I first saw the trailer to this film, I only recognized one person, i.e. Colm Meaney whom I had seen several times. But after finishing the movie and checking on the internet, my wife realized that Phyllis Logan was the one who portrayed Mrs. Hughes in that famous series Downton Abbey. The rest of the cast were unfamiliar to us. The movie itself was directed by Claudio Fäh whose credit mostly were direct-to-video films like Hollow Man 2, Sniper: Reloaded so he did not exactly had the experience of making blockbuster movie. Although this one did not fall into the category.

For a survival thriller action, I think this one was good enough in term of giving us some intense and suspenseful moments. There were also jump scare scenes that were pretty effective as I was quite surprised, while my wife was shocked more than few times. In film like this, it would not have left a good impression without emotional moment. And this one was no exception as it did have one which was quite touching (although my wife felt it would have been better if it was done a bit differently).

Overall it was an OK movie for me and my wife. We enjoyed the thrilling moments and the special effects were actually pretty decent. But few of those illogical parts and the lack of really captivating characters made it less impressive for us. We liked the intensity and the sound effects as they added the element of  suspense. It was only having 90 minutes duration (without any mid or post end credit scenes) which was just nice for this kind of movie. So if you are interested in seeing some survival suspense thriller drama involving sharks, then this would satisfy you. But if you expect something great, then you would not find it here.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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