To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why I even watched this. From the onset I knew this was going to be a B-movie, and probably a bad B-movie. I was right.
From the performances to the dialogue and the execution in general, this was a typical B-movie. Although the main characters are well set-up, there's very little character development. As the film shifted into action mode, it became clear the director was way out of his comfort zone - or simply not experienced enough. The fight scenes were theatrical and there were no suspense whatsoever. The photography became more experimental and rather bad, actually. Uhm, very bad in fact! (The director of photography should be fired.) The visuals were also quite bad.
All attempts at humor also failed miserably. In fact, speaking of humor, 'Altitude' might have worked better as a slapstick comedy. When they used Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' I knew this should have been a comedy - and might have been a success had it been!
Dolph Lundgren really stooped low on this one - must have been a bad month (or year!) for this once A-list actor. His character - and acting - had no dimension at all. He was bland with little expression. Greer Grammer tried really hard to be the bitch - and for most part actually succeeded. I could see she really gave it her all. Denise Richards wasn't all that bad as the film's protagonist, but also not that great either. The actor that stood out - for me - was Kirk Barker as Terry, but I thought his character had so much more to explore. Barker had a Hugh Grant aura about him.
'Altitude' is a B-movie, so don't expect too much. Maybe - just maybe - if you allow yourself you might have fun with it. As for me, it wasn't entirely a waste of time, but certainly not a great movie.
Would I watch it again? No.
