Three Peaks

There's just enough closure to its inconclusive climax to allow you to relax, even if it doesn't give you much to terribly ponder during the drive home.

The double impulse at the heart of "Three Peaks" is ultimately self-defeating.

"Three Peaks" is a dark little family drama, a ticking time bomb of a movie that is well made but never totally satisfies.

Three Peaks is a thriller of a decidedly unconventional sort...A more clichéd effort would have succumbed to third-act fireworks as a reward for enduring such a slow-burn build-up. But Zabeil rejects predictable paths.

This isn't your daddy's drama/thriller. It's a meticulously crafted film that, in its very self-disciplined way, is far stronger than movies that go for the emotional jugular from the git-go.

Three Peaks is so thinly conceived and executed that, for the most part, it fails to justify its existence as a stand-alone feature.

It is incredibly effective... [director Jan Zabeil] really sets you up.

The harsh, forbidding environment naturally lends an air of danger, and Zabeil confidently, quietly winds the suspense around the potential breaking point...

It's said that good things come in threes, a theory German filmmaker Jan Zabiel unwittingly disproves in "Three Peaks," his thin-aired family drama in which three quickly becomes tri-ing -- or, tiring, if you wish to flip those six letters around.

Despite a promising setup, Zabeil can't get his actors to generate a human tension on par with the impressive and potentially deadly surroundings.