Level Up takes one 20 something that has no motivation in life and his hard working girlfriend and throws them into a very fast paced action and high-concept adrenaline race through London to save a life!
Matt (Josh Bowman – Revenge) and his girlfriend, Anna (Leila Mimmack – TV’s Home Fires) go out on a rather unsuccessful date night, upon their return home they go to bed on an argument.
The next morning, masked thugs kidnap Anna as she leaves for work before assaulting Matt, locking him into a body vest containing a package and giving him a mobile phone. If Matt wants to see his girlfriend alive again he must follow the instructions being delivered by text message and deliver the package.
Now it is up to Matt to race around London in an attempt to save Anna’s life, during the day he is sent text messages on what he has to do and where he has to go to complete his “mission”. During this time he comes across people and situations that are there to prevent him from completing the task at hand and inevitably his chance to save Anna.
During this time Matt can’t shake the feeling he is being watched, or worse yet, played…
Level Up is written and directed by feature film debutante Adam Randall, the movie is a unique adrenaline ride with an immersive reality gaming twist, led brilliantly by Josh Bowman, and supported by Neil Maskell (High Rise, Kill List, TV’s Utopia), William Houston (Sherlock Holmes) and Doc Brown (David Brent: Life on the Road).
Level Up  – Game On!
The movie is very fast passed with Bowman constantly running around London trying to save his girlfriend’s life. With the idea that all this is down to a few people playing a game with people’s lives, it makes you think, is this the way that things could sadly go!
Randall has done a great job with his first feature film and Level Up has that gritty British feel to it throughout, there are some great set pieces that are nicely played out during the film, the soundtrack also works well, it’s not obtrusive and fits in nicely for the fast pace of the film.
As the film progresses and you become more aware of what is going on and how deep the “game” goes you become more intrigued with who has actually started the game and why they are actually doing it, the only problem is you don’t get to find out!
There is also the thought that if Matt does nothing all day but play computer games, how is he so fit running around London!
The film did start to get a little tiring towards the end, but hey it only runs for 81 mins so it wasn’t too long, but any longer and I may have turned off.
Level Up with some Special Features on DVD
- Extra Features: ‘5 minutes with Leo Pearlman’
- ‘10 minutes with Plaid’
- ‘Adam Randall and Eben Bolten’
- ‘Around London’
- ‘Cast & Crew’
- ‘Costume Design’
- ‘Estate Flat Tour’
- ‘Fun On Set’
- ‘Edit Process’
- ‘SFX’
- ‘Taxi Bloopers’
- ‘Matt’s Character’
- ‘Through Screens’
Level Up is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
