Middle Fork Productions, Pierce/Williams Entertainment, Zero Gravity Management,
Eion Bailey, Yvonne Strahovski, Will Patton, Andrea Marcellus, Wendy Worthington, Philip Salick
Two Newlyweds, Nick (Eion Bailey) and Lori (Yvonne Strahowski) decide to visit the Grand Canyon for their honeymoon. Nick’s dream was to take the mule train down to the bottom of the canyon, spend the night and come back up the next day, but all of the treks were full, and to get a back country permit, you have to apply very early. But when they bump into Henry (Will Patton) who claims he can get them a permit by greasing some wheels. So they head off into the canyon. Turns out Henry knows some really interesting, out of the way places, but after a horrible accident, Nick and Lori find themselves stranded alone in the canyon, with no food or water, no idea how to get out, and with the situation getting more desperate each passing moment. It’s a fight for survival that is beyond belief.
First and foremost, this is a beautiful film. The scenery of the Grand Canyon is unbelievably beautiful. There are times when it looks like a sound stage with a few fake bushes, but most of it is breathtakingly scenic. Then there’s the suspense. It’s suspenseful. There are lots of trials and tribulations going on and they do a great job of building the suspense as they go through the film. It will catch your interest and keep it going throughout the film. It is really exciting.
Now for the negative points. One, a lot of the stuff it totally b-movie nonsense. This script needs some touch up by real nature experts as the behavior of some of the animals in this film are sometimes incredibly absurd. Secondly, there is no way these two are newlyweds. Geez, there is no chemistry. From the beginning all the way through, they are like friends. There’s almost no relationship between them at all. Finally, on the negative side, is the simple ridiculous plot. There is a river at the bottom of the canyon, but they are trying to climb out. They lost all their supplies including their water. So for days, they wander in the extreme heat of the canyon with absolutely no water. Yet they’re doing just fine. Their lips crack, and the do add a bit of soot and dirt, but they are not burned, nor are they dehydrated. All of these things detract from the movie, and this is simply the fault of the writers, as the cast is strong and the cinematography is awesome. Although someone once told me it’s impossible to take a bad picture of the Grand Canyon, but still, this is “Disney Nature” beautiful.
All in all, I think it’s a worthwhile film to watch, but it would have been so much better with a little more tweaking of the details. Still, I enjoyed it, and was sure hoping for some good news at the end.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
