The Devil's Leap

This was a 4 part 2 story viewing. The first - as others have explained, was a father/daughter hiking expedition. Yes; Philip Bas did credit to his acting skills in his portrayal of an expert mountain climber - but the overall story felt like watching a French version of The Deliverance! Ricky ravines- steep dives in pools - waterfalls, the whole nine yards.

My heart sank when it became yet another tale of a truculent teenage daughter who is beyond stupid and continually ramps up the danger level. Like many in films with sulking kids as the norm - she needed a good slap - but oh no, the script called for the parent to say "its not your fault" and give the mandatory hug. Well actually it was their fault so there should have been the massivec telling off. Which happens in real life.

As for the second story - basically an army course for young outward bounders, Bas appears to have shrunk since the first film - or maybe it was the longer hair but he appeared a lot older.

I lost interest midway through the first episode it bordered on the ridiculous. Then I gave up.

This French wilderness set drama is centred on Paul Vilar. He is a former member of the French Special Forces who has planned a weekend hike with Sara, his seventeen year old daughter, to celebrate their birthdays. She is less keen but agrees to go. On the way they stop off at Paul's uncle's bar where they learn that the authorities suspect people smugglers of operating in the area. Inevitable they run into them; Sara witnesses one of them stabbing one of the migrants... the heavily armed smugglers are determined to leave no witnesses. Paul must use his military skills as he leads his daughter through a dangerous canyon.

'Meeting bad people in the wilderness' is effectively a genre in its own right. I thought this was a decent enough example even if it is pretty obvious that it is made for television and not just because it had been divided into two episodes here. While it is impressively tense much of the time the confrontations with the smugglers are quite tame. As the bad guys, armed with automatic rifles, repeatedly miss when our protagonists are in the open. It is the terrain that proves to be the greater threat... and it does look great with waterfalls and a narrow gorge. Overall I'd not call this a must see but it is decent enough if you enjoy the genre.

These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

With my fear of heights, I had severe doubts about watching this film.. Still, what could be nicer as a birthday treat for a teenage girl then spending a weekend with Dad - in a cave in the mountains hiding from a gang of armed thugs?

The cave was obviously a bit of a downer for a teenager with a mobile phone, so she climbs on top of a rocky outcrop for a signal so that she can send a video of the thugs to her friend, and is obviously spotted by the thugs. A somewhat dumbfounded parent is left to ask, "You gotta signal?? Why didn't you call the police??) I stopped watching at this point (the end of Episode1), thinking that if I want to escape I should probably ditch the kid.

At least, the expert, dangerous climbing at the start didn't make me dizzy or sick - the best part for me.

No pun intended - actually sometimes it is best not to take your daughter with you. Better for all involved - well sort of. Of course we would not have this movie if ... wrong place, wrong time kind of thing happened. You could also swap or rather argue right instead of wrong - but that is a different story.

Since Vertical Limit in the 90s I am waiting for another movie to be on the same level of insanity of sorts. This is not it - but for a movie made for TV it is quite decent. And I just saw there is a sequel to this? Well I doubt I will be watching that anytme soon ... too much on my watchlist ... this is quite predictable with the bad guys unable to ... well shoot straight if you'll excuse another pun to end it ... something you may wish the movie would do long before it actually ends ... with the sequel it obviously doesn't really though.

Just watched this on UK Channel 4, presented as two episodes of a series. I'm staggered to see it gets a rating here of 5.4 ! The action sequences are so exciting, and the stunts (climbing mountains, sliding down waterfalls, fighting bad guys.... all standard action movie stuff) are delivered in style, and look very believable

Maybe not up to standard of a cinema release? But it makes a great TV series.