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After a group of pregnant women become trapped in an overheated
elevator (that's lift to us Brits!), resulting in a couple
of premature births, ex-marine and present day lift engineer
Mark Newman visits the 102 floor New York Millennium Building
to check out the systems. Everything seems okay, but this
is only the first of a string of dangerous occurrences. A
building security guard is decapitated, a blind man walks
through the doors into an empty shaft, the bottom falls out
of a lift full of people, and there is a near miss with a
little girl. It appears that the express elevators have a
mind of their own. Accompanied by Jennifer Evans, a beautiful
but nosy reporter who initially gets him into trouble, Newman
investigates. They discover that the designer of the elevator
computer system was expelled from the military after disastrous
use of organic technology involving dolphins. His illicit
work continues, but this time it's not dolphins he's using...
Down
has a very much made-for-television feel to it. It's obviously
fairly low budget, compared with most other modern cinema
releases, and predictable in many areas. When regular film
and TV bad guy Michael Ironside turns up as the villain of
the piece, you instantly realise this was played as a safe
bet. No casting against type here; Ironside is so established
in this kind of role that the moment he makes his appearance
you just know you should begin the booing and hissing, for
no logical reason except that he's there.
Our
hero fairs little better. He's a likeable enough chap, but
too easygoing and weak for his supposed background. A tough
ex-marine would surely push back when threatened. Here his
military training is merely tacked on to explain how he can
climb a lift cable and hang upside down to fire a rocket launcher.
The reporter is the saving grace here: annoying, and yet good-looking
and somewhat quirky.
However,
the main plot strand makes little sense. Why would anyone
want lifts to think for themselves? More importantly, after
only a couple of major incidents, the building would have
been closed to the public for a thorough investigation. In
this age of political activists the police could not afford
to take a chance of more people being killed, no matter how
much revenue would potentially be lost. Keeping the entire
building, complete with lifts with the hump, open is nonsensical,
especially as the police and security all suspect terrorists.
A
less than average film. On an even more ridiculous note, as
the film ends Newman and Evans step straight into another
building's lift. As they go down (!) the soundtrack kicks
in with Aerosmith's Love In An Elevator. Yes, I groaned
too.
Ty
Power
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