It looks like it cost about a tenth of that. The fact that they had that much funding to work with and produced this drivel is just pathetic. OK, I'm sure that a fair portion of it must have gone to Forlani and Bamber, but why they signed on for this totally escapes me. They both recently completed other projects prior to this and also have new movies in the pipeline, so it's not like either are desperate for work.
This movie falls flat in so many ways. The person pitching this must have been really impressive because there was barely enough content for 30 minutes let alone an hour and 30 minutes. Scenes that should be short in order to create tension are stretched out to fill the running time. The effect was like having your teeth extracted in slow motion without any anaesthetic. The dialogue is so bad I'm convinced it was contracted out to the lowest bidder on Upwork. The same goes for the special FX - I could have created them on my 5 year old PC in less than a day.
The saddest part is that, even though the plot, if you can call it that, borrows liberally from Towering Inferno and a bunch of other movies, with a bit of effort they could still have developed it into something worth watching. Yet, it is almost like they purposefully didn't even try. Why not allocate some time to Bamber's character confronting his wife about the pictures? Why not have her investigate their origin and the reason behind someone sending them? I can only guess because it would make one think more about this and wonder how the characters could not be suspicious of photos of this nature sent anonymously. Oh, not to mention that the children are able to discover that the photos are faked in a matter of minutes, yet the high priced lawyers had them analysed and were not able to disprove their authenticity. Their experts probably disappeared into one of the plot holes never to be seen again.
There are so many basic logic, continuity and practical errors it is clear they never bothered to consult technical advisers. Here are just a couple of examples: 1) Bamber's character is heading down the stairs and is not able to continue due to smoke, so attempts to exit the stairwell at that floor, but the door handle is too hot. Why is the handle hot if it is a few floors up from the fire? 2) He then attempt to cover his mouth and go down the stairs through the smoke, but succumbs to smoke inhalation. So where did the firefighters that found him come from? 3) They then proceed downward where he was not able to go previously and arrive at the conclusion that they have reached the point of origin because the door is hot. Seriously? 4) This is supposed to be a huge multi-storey building, yet it only has one stairwell. I'm guessing they paid the building inspectors to ignore that... 5) The building in the marketing pictures is clearly not the same building as the one in the movie, as the shape it different and it is clearly much taller. 6) Also, the building in the pictures is virtually destroyed, whereas in the movie almost all visible damage is limited to the 20th floor. 7) At one point Beaumont refers to the lawyers "down" on the 60th floor, whereas the building clearly has nowhere near 60 floors. 8) When the two guys head out to the helipad, one can clearly see it is an older building with peeling paint and rusted girders and not newly constructed. 9) The electricity to the lift went out, yet they were later able to "ground" it. 10) In fact, just about everything in respect of the lift is totally unbelievable. My understanding is that legally all modern lifts are required to have battery backup. Usually, in event of a power outage, the lift goes to the next floor, opens the doors and then shuts the lift down to prevent further usage. They are also required to have an alarm in case of emergency. This used to be a button, but in modern lifts it is generally an intercom that runs off the battery backup so that it remains operational in event of a power outage. 11) At one point in the movie one is shown what is happening from the perspective of the building's security cameras and one can clearly see the two children stuck in the lift. So are we then expcted to assume that there is nobody monitoring the cameras?
I honestly wasn't trying to nitpick. These shortcomings are just so glaringly obvious, one has to wonder how this movie was ever made. If I can save even one person from wasting 90 minutes of their life, then writing this review will have been worthwhile.
This movie falls flat in so many ways. The person pitching this must have been really impressive because there was barely enough content for 30 minutes let alone an hour and 30 minutes. Scenes that should be short in order to create tension are stretched out to fill the running time. The effect was like having your teeth extracted in slow motion without any anaesthetic. The dialogue is so bad I'm convinced it was contracted out to the lowest bidder on Upwork. The same goes for the special FX - I could have created them on my 5 year old PC in less than a day.
The saddest part is that, even though the plot, if you can call it that, borrows liberally from Towering Inferno and a bunch of other movies, with a bit of effort they could still have developed it into something worth watching. Yet, it is almost like they purposefully didn't even try. Why not allocate some time to Bamber's character confronting his wife about the pictures? Why not have her investigate their origin and the reason behind someone sending them? I can only guess because it would make one think more about this and wonder how the characters could not be suspicious of photos of this nature sent anonymously. Oh, not to mention that the children are able to discover that the photos are faked in a matter of minutes, yet the high priced lawyers had them analysed and were not able to disprove their authenticity. Their experts probably disappeared into one of the plot holes never to be seen again.
There are so many basic logic, continuity and practical errors it is clear they never bothered to consult technical advisers. Here are just a couple of examples: 1) Bamber's character is heading down the stairs and is not able to continue due to smoke, so attempts to exit the stairwell at that floor, but the door handle is too hot. Why is the handle hot if it is a few floors up from the fire? 2) He then attempt to cover his mouth and go down the stairs through the smoke, but succumbs to smoke inhalation. So where did the firefighters that found him come from? 3) They then proceed downward where he was not able to go previously and arrive at the conclusion that they have reached the point of origin because the door is hot. Seriously? 4) This is supposed to be a huge multi-storey building, yet it only has one stairwell. I'm guessing they paid the building inspectors to ignore that... 5) The building in the marketing pictures is clearly not the same building as the one in the movie, as the shape it different and it is clearly much taller. 6) Also, the building in the pictures is virtually destroyed, whereas in the movie almost all visible damage is limited to the 20th floor. 7) At one point Beaumont refers to the lawyers "down" on the 60th floor, whereas the building clearly has nowhere near 60 floors. 8) When the two guys head out to the helipad, one can clearly see it is an older building with peeling paint and rusted girders and not newly constructed. 9) The electricity to the lift went out, yet they were later able to "ground" it. 10) In fact, just about everything in respect of the lift is totally unbelievable. My understanding is that legally all modern lifts are required to have battery backup. Usually, in event of a power outage, the lift goes to the next floor, opens the doors and then shuts the lift down to prevent further usage. They are also required to have an alarm in case of emergency. This used to be a button, but in modern lifts it is generally an intercom that runs off the battery backup so that it remains operational in event of a power outage. 11) At one point in the movie one is shown what is happening from the perspective of the building's security cameras and one can clearly see the two children stuck in the lift. So are we then expcted to assume that there is nobody monitoring the cameras?
I honestly wasn't trying to nitpick. These shortcomings are just so glaringly obvious, one has to wonder how this movie was ever made. If I can save even one person from wasting 90 minutes of their life, then writing this review will have been worthwhile.