A review of "A Lonely Place to Die"

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A review of “A Lonely Place to Die”

By: Brian Cotnoir

“A Lonely Place to Die” is a Scottish Thriller that was released in 2011 that follows a group of mountain climbing/ hiking enthusiasts who are planning a big expedition through the Scottish Highlands. While exploring they come across something mysterious and unexpected.  They find a young Serbian girl who has been buried an underground bunker.  The mountain climbers frantically dig out the girl and pull her to safety.  They learn that the girls name is Anna and that she has been kidnapped.  Two of mountain climbers go in search of help, but unfortunately they are killed.  So the others decide to go off on their own and bring Anna to safety.  Shortly after their trek begins, the remaining mountain climbers realize that they are being followed, and what’s worst the people following them are Anna’s kidnappers and they want to kill the climbers and take Anna back so they can get their ransom; now what started out as a day of hiking and mountain climbing has turned into a day of survival.      

    “A Lonely Place to Die” is a very dull film.  This film starts out so slowly, and it does being to pick up around the 23 minute mark.  However, I found that every time some excitement began to build the pay-off always came up flat.  I mean, there’s very little interest or action that happens.  The characters all give a bland performance, the motive behind the kidnappers isn’t all that good either, and it’s just not entertaining.            

Oh God, it's so dull!

The only good thing that “A Lonely Place to Die” offers is some excellent cinematography of the Scottish countryside.  At times the shots of the Scottish Countryside are so nice, it’s almost like you’re watching a “Tour Scotland” commercial rather than a film.  I can’t say that I hate this film because I actually don’t, if anything I was more disappointed in it.  With a title like “A Lonely Place to Die”, there are endless possibilities you can have for a plot, this film just isn’t a cool sounding as its title might lead you to believe.  The plot feels like it was hastily put together, and the end result was an incredibly dull film. I don’t think I can recommend this film to anyone.  It’s too dull, and for all the good build up it has throughout the film, the payoff is not worth it.