High Lane (Vertige) (2010)

Director: Abel Ferry
Cast:
Fanny Valette/Chloe
Johan Libéreau/Loic
Raphaël Lenglet/Guillaume
Maud Wyler/Karine
Nicolas Giraud/Fred

Plot: Five friends are rock climbing in Croatia, but when a bridge falls leaving them stranded on a mountain their day is about to take a turn for the worst as they are being targeted and killed someone or something.

Review:
I actually saw this film about a year ago, but I saw a dubbed version (ugh!). It was good but I didn’t love it. It was rather generic and predictable. But a year later I got my hands on the original French version with English subtitles and I put it in again. Was it worth tapping it again? In my mind, yes! Re-watching this film I was able to enjoy it much more than the first time. I think it also helps that I hate dubbing! So not having to listen to dubbing probably helped my enjoyment factor of this film this time around. But lets get away from this subject and talk about High Lane.
Wow! I don’t remember this film being THIS good! The first half of this film is simply astounding. It is beautiful shot and the cinematography was beautiful. Watching these people rock climb was amazing. I didn’t notice ANY CGI or green screen, so it seems like this was all done in the real outdoors! That’s fuckin’ great! The first half also had genuine suspense that had me biting my nails, in particular a scene where a bridge collapses. The first half of the film was my favorite part! It was beautiful and suspenseful. The directing was astounding and the music score kicked ass. Plus the acting was great from all five actors. Fanny Valette as our heroine Chloe stood out the most. She hit some great emotional peeks and made her very likable. I was always behind this girl and wanted her to make it through this situation.
Which brings me to the second half of the film…once the threat was revealed, I couldn’t say I was thrilled. The second half of the film was still scary and full of suspense, but the threat didn’t really scare me. I found him more ridiculous. He was just your basic crazy mountain man that felt like he belonged in Wrong Turn (although honestly I preferred this movie). But just because I wasn’t fond of the threat in the movie didn’t ruin the film. I got over it and I was taken on a brutal experience. The deaths were brutal and violent and quite bloody in some scenes. The fight scenes were brutal and shot very well. Watching these people fight the mountain man was a visceral experience that went for the jugular. The final five minutes of the film were especially amazing when there is one fight scene between a character and the killer. It was brutal, bloody, and I couldn’t peel my eyes away!
But alas the film wasn’t perfect. It was still quite a flawed film. First of all the characters needed some more work. The heroine was very well written and likable, and the other girl Karine was also very likable. But the three guys in the movie…man! One was an idiot, one was a whiny baby who always cried, and the other guy was an asshole (but he wasn’t that bad). The asshole guy played by Lenglet was the best of the male characters. He at least had great charisma. But seriously the other two men needed to be better written. Then there were the stupid character decisions that they made which annoyed me. But my biggest issue is that in the end the first half was better than the second half. While brutal and fun, the second half was just very generic and predictable. I really wish the film went in a different direction and gave us something a bit different than the same old-same old.
But in the end, I still recommend this film. It is perfect on a technical level and it is still a good creepy film with great suspense scenes. Go check it, because the French have done it again. This isn’t another French classic (ala High Tension, Inside, Martyrs, Them, Frontier(s)), but it is still a worthwhile movie.

Grade: 7/10