January 27, 2013
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High Lane (Vertige) (2009)
High Lane (Vertige) (2009)
ABOUT
A group of twenty-something friends undertake a mountain-climbing expedition to Croatia. Despite petty internal squabbles, a romantic rivalry, and one poor fellow’s dire case of acrophobia, all goes as well as can be expected, until one of the climbers, Guillaume, makes the ignorant decision to chart an abandoned trail. Before long, the innocent travelers fall prey to the machinations of a crazed mountain butcher named Anton
DIRECTOR
Abel Ferry
STARRING
Fanny Valette as Chloé (also starred in “The Crossing”. “Welcome Home ” and “A NY Thing”)
Johan Libéreau as Loïc (also starred in “Spiral”, “18 Years Old and Rising ” and “You Will Be Mine “)
Raphaël Lenglet as Guillaume (also starred in “Home Sweet Home “, ” Night Squad” and “Return to Algiers “)
Nicolas Giraud as Fred (also starred in “Taken “, and “A Butterfly Kiss “)
Maud Wyler as Karine (also starred in “Twiggy ” and the “Low Life “)
Justin Blanckaert as Anton (also starred in “Bruc, the Manhunt “, “Eden Is West ” and “Have Mercy on Us All “)
High Lane is a very entertaining movie with a lot of intense suspense in the first half that is comparable to “Cliffhanger”. By watching these scenes you really can identify with the character and you won’t feel at ease as well. You feel as if you were climbing up the mountains of Croatia and suffering from vertigo for real. The first half also shows us many great landscapes captured by a very good camera work once again.
The second part of the movie turns from a suspenseful action drama into a solid horror movie that can be compared to The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn and The Descent. The transition is well developed enough to not feel like a sudden rupture
There are a few mildly annoying things in the story..like…
1. Why was Fred running through the trees when he was caught in the trap?
2.Why did he not immediately throw down the rope to the climbers below when reaching the top?
3. An inability to finish the job. Both Luke and Chloe die because they were not willing to kill the killer. They killed your friends and you had the advantage why stop when you have him. Luke had the advantage when he was hitting the killer on the head with a stone. Why throw away that advantage (literally) and crawl to the edge of the precipice? Chloe decided to show compassion and leave the killer alive behind her.
4. Is it likely that the killer could loosen or cut a steel cable (carrying Chloe) with what looked like a small home-made knife?
If you can over look those things and just enjoy the movie, overall it ua a superior film of its genre and well worth a watch.
