Altitude stars Denise Richards as a disgraced FBI agent flying cross-country to face her demotion. Lucky enough for her, the flight is hijacked by a group of expert thieves (Dolph, Chuck Liddell, and Greer Grammer) looking to get the diamonds that another in their group, Kirk Barker, made off with after he double-crossed them. Now Richards is the only one who stands in their way and can safely get all of the passengers on the ground.
Mitch and I both agreed that this was pretty good. He brought up the notion that DTV films should be graded on a curve, and I think that's a good rule here, because it does have its flaws, but overall is a good time. Richards is great in the lead, Grammer great as her baddie antagonist, and Dolph is fantastic as always just being Dolph. There were some points where the action felt a bit claustrophobic, in part because they were filming on an airplane with limit resources, but when we got to our classic hatches open and people in danger of flying out end that we always get in a good plane actioner, this delivered enough to get us there.
What more can we say about Dolph on the site here that we haven't already? This may not be a film that features him entirely--he spends most of the film in the cockpit flying the plane--but the moment he walks on the plane in his suit, and takes his seat in first class, the movie changes, and changes for the better. That's the kind of presence he has, and why we've named him the Babe Ruth of DTV. For a 50th movie on the site, there are other movies out there that have more Dolph, but few that capture what makes him so great. It's interesting to go back through the 50 and all the moments we've shared with him. He had a spiked glove in The Minion, wore a maxi pad on his head in Bridge of Dragons. He's had two daytime talk show hosts as costars, Montel Williams and Jerry Springer. He's been the hero, he's been the baddie, he's even been the bait in bait and switches. The DTV world is Dolph's world, and we're just living in it.
I don't know what I expected when I saw Denise Richards on the cover, but Mitch and I agreed that she was great here. It was very no-nonsense, not a lot of frills, which I think could be a model for other actors and actresses looking to be cast in parts like this. I also really liked her character's snarkiness, and she carried that off really well. Mitch talked about how people say there should be more movies with strong female characters, and I think when you pair Richards with Greer Grammer's baddie, you have a good blueprint for how studios can and should pull it off more often.
The airplane movie has a tendency to get claustrophobic and repetitive, and I think this could have fallen into the trap more, especially since their airplane set felt more closed in. To some extent though it worked better here with a lead like Richards, because her character was able to use the confined space to her advantage; also, Dolph being in the cockpit most of the time meant his height wasn't an issue in that environment. This definitely wasn't the big budget break away plane with multiple parts that allowed for shooting at many angles, but like most lower budget movies, they did the best with what they had, and I think for the most part it worked.
As you can see above, there was some goofiness in this movie too. Some obviously intentional, like using Dolph's imdb photo for his license; some I wasn't so sure about, like when Denise Richards is evacuating the passengers by having them jump off a plane that was accelerating to a speed where it could take off. For me, when it comes to stuff like that, it depends on how much fun the movie is as to whether or not I can forgive it. If the film is boring, preachy, maybe has a sanctimonious message they want to project, I'll kill it for that; on the other hand, if it's a fun DTV flick like this, with material that doesn't take itself too seriously and a cast and crew who give a solid effort, I'll just chalk it up to more of what I find fun about these kinds of films.
Right now, as far as I can tell, this is only available to rent through streaming, as opposed to on some of the free or subscription services like Tubi, Prime, or Netflix. I feel like this is more suited to one of those than plunking down $3.99 to rent, but if it does make it to those kinds of places, it's worth checking out for sure. In terms of Dolph, 50 movies is a huge milestone, and I can't think of anyone in the DTV world more deserving of hitting it first.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4556370
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