A Lonely Place to Die

I chanced upon this flick years ago and grabbed it when I found on sale. Good story, great action, beautiful landscapes. Thriller/action with a lot of familiar faces.

Wow. How is a movie this good -- a thrilling pleasure from start to finish -- not so much more acclaimed? The opening 20 minutes could have been condensed to 12, but other than that, it's pretty flawless. So happy I stumbled upon this. For a movie fully rooted in the real, it was implausible that one of the main characters spoke zero English, given the character's background, but forgivable. Brilliant. (Avoid watching the trailer, which spoils at least one surprise.)

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is a low-budget thriller that almost completely overcomes the limitations of its budget because it uses the magnificent scenery of the Scottish Highlands as almost a special effect of its own. Some of the most gorgeous scenery I've seen in a film outside of a LORD OF THE RINGS film in quite awhile. The land is gorgeous looking, but also sparse and forbidding. It's the kind of place that reminds you that the wild really still is WILD.At the beginning of the film, we meet three rock climbers scaling one of these tricky mountains. There is a mishap and a near disaster ensues. It gets the heart pumping, but also helps establish the pecking order of the characters. They soon meet two more friends and we discover these 5 companions have met up in this secluded area to hike and to climb. The next day, they head out on their journey, and adventures ensue. I don't want to spoil anything, which is tough...but let's say that while nature continues to be demanding, they run into more danger via happenstance encounters with some REALLY bad folks. They also have the misfortune to find someone in danger and take it upon themselves (as good citizens of the world) to help that person...much to their personal cost. The film is man vs. nature, man vs. man, and man vs. himself (or at least, his closest friends).Once events begin to unfold, they move quickly and almost unrelentingly. We've never gotten more than sketches of these characters, but it's enough for us to pick up on the dynamics and to begin to appreciate that people show bravery and competence in different ways. Towards the end, the film becomes particularly violent, and by no means is this a movie for children. I enjoyed the thrills in the earlier parts of the movie a bit better, but overall the action was satisfying.Unfortunately, the characters also sometimes do things that aren't always logical. Yes, they are under duress, so some silliness can be excused, but honestly, a couple of the folks act as though they've never seen a movie with crazy killers before! And I have to say the very ending of the film is a significant let-down. A real "huh" moment for me. Maybe I missed something, because there are a lot of competing accents in this film...but one of the characters introduced very late in film just does something that appears to fly in the face of the motivations established earlier. I apologize again for sounding vague...but part of the fun of the film are some of the unexpected places it takes you. They aren't "twists" necessarily, but just some interesting, amusing or exciting alley-ways.The film IS gorgeously shot. Yes, the scenery helps, but the filmmakers also knew they had something special and they made the most of it. The physical competence of the characters is very visceral and convincing. The actors at least seem like they might know how to rock climb. No one gives an Oscar worthy performance, but everyone is very solid. Melissa George stands out as the "good guy" and Sean Harris makes an excellent villain. He's competent at being "bad" to be quite dangerous, but Harris gives him a bit of the psycho edge too...so we know he's smart but liable to do something a bit stupid because it suits his looney streak.Not a perfect film by any means. But if you want something a little grittier and more rooted in the "real" world than many Hollywood action blockbusters, but still nice and exciting, I hope you'll give the sadly overlooked A LONELY PLACE TO DIE a look.

Lots of action and stress... a kidnapping gone wrong as hiking friends try to bring a child to safety.

This movie requires patience, but if you don't have it just fast forward till it looks interesting. This is a decent thriller, but not overly thrilling. I just couldn't get into the characters. I watched it but I found myself fast forwarding which I don't do very often. I think perhaps this movie needed better editing, there was to much footage of mountain scenery, parade, et cetera. Had they trimmed there and developed the characters more it would have been better. It doesn't take all that much to figure out what is going on, and they dragged us with all the extra footage. There are some great scenes of them escaping the bad guys, but they needed a bad guy boss on the scene with some character. The bad guys are okay but nothing made me think, oh those guys really scare me (see John Lithgow's great performance in Cliffhanger). In fact I think they were made to look so cold blooded I just didn't care about them at all. The five people on the mountain are decent, but only a couple I halfway felt I knew a little by the end. The police that try to help are barely developed so once again they are okay. They needed more screen time because I started to like the black cop, but didn't get time to really know him. The girls father at the end was more interesting because you could feel his intensity. All-in-all a pretty decent movie but it had a lot more potential had they developed more of the characters and spent less time on the surroundings. I love scenery and sets, but they don't make the movie, the actors and story do. At this less than seven dollar price it is worth buying.Recommendations:  Shoot to Kill , Cliffhanger , and  The Eiger Sanction CA Luster

This movie starts out looking like it's going to be about hiking and climbing adventure.To some extent, it does have that, but it also has much, much more.The character development was well done, not at all slow or boring. The footage that shows the audience what the characters are like is interesting and enjoyable to watch.The plot twist roughly 1/3rd of the way through the movie is 100% unexpected unless someone already clued you in on it or you've seen it before. I won't spoil it.Long-story-short, this turns out to be a very great movie. There is quite a bit of violence though, so if you're not into that then this movie might not be for you. It's NOT simply about hiking and climbing, not by a long shot!

Shows the rugged landscape of Scotland. Very well done by the actors and the photography.

I thought this film was excellent, but having said that I did spend the vast majority of it spent peeping out from behind a cushion! It seemed very realistic to me (a bit too much so!) and did get a bit violent and gruesome at points.Once the action started, it was full throttle from beginning to end. I was left feeling very tense and shaken, as if I'd just got off a roller coaster! On the DVD though, you get to see how the film was made and this lasted almost as long as the film did! It was nice to watch this afterwards because it calmed me down a bit . . .I would have preferred to give this 4.5 stars because I found there were too many loose ends once the film was over. I prefer a nice tidy package whereby I can walk away knowing exactly what happened. But it was so good otherwise, I went for 5 stars rather than 4.If you like a good thriller and can cope with terror and violence, watch this because you'll probably love it.

Half looking away due to violence aside, 'A Longley Place To Die' is tensely gripping and uses special effects cleverly and realistically.Even though you can not choose specific sections, all credit to the generous director Julian Gilbey for gifting us seventy minutes of dvd extras: that includes stunts, location, costume, special effects, and, of course, the climbing aspect of this film. For anyone who wants to get into film and television as a working professional dvd extras can provide invaluable informstion, and the dvd extras here do not disappoint (and are worth the price alone).And all on a four million pound budget. Shut the front door!The only wee disappointment is that lead star Melissa George, shines brightly, yet she isn't anywhere near as [commercially] successful as many a film actress. Hollywood's loss is our and independent film's gain.Lastly, minus the midges, Scotland is such a beautiful country (apart from Glasgow's Council estates. Cough) .

This is a good action film with some amazing scenes involving cliff climbing, chases through woods and towns, and amazing marksmanship. It kept my attention throughout, the acting was very good by all of the actors, and the production values are top notch. I guess it's more of a cat and mouse movies involving a lot cats and a slowly shrinking number of mice. Worth a view, for sure.

I haven't watched it yet but I am looking forward to it. It is in the original packaging so I do expect the best.