Walter Presents: “The Devil’s Leap” preview – definitely worth checking out

Interestingly, this latest action thriller four-part mini-series from Walter Presents was originally created as two separate TV movies; “The Devil’s Leap” and “The Devil’s Leap 2”.

If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.

If you’re a fan of the Liam Neeson ‘Taken' franchise, this will be right up your street. Paul Vilar is our hero, played stoically by Philippe  Bas. He’s a former Special Forces operative who is now works as a guide for people who wish to climb in the French Alps. He’s the perfect rugged protagonist; lots of dark, brooding looks. Not a big fan of smiling!

His daughter, Sara (Maïra Schmitt) is about to turn 17, so he gives her what every teenage girl wants – a hiking trek in the mountains with her old dad, where there’s no phone signal and very little likelihood of finding a coffee shop. Sara tries to convince her mother, Audrey (Armelle Deutsch) to talk her dad out of the trip, but Audrey has a new boyfriend (she and Paul are separated) and wants Sara out of the picture for a few days.

With his reluctant and recalcitrant daughter in tow, Paul heads into the mountains. But inevitably Sara gets in a huff and stomps off on her own. Whilst she’s contemplating the unfairness of her life, she hears voices. On a nearby hilltop, she spots a group of men – people smugglers and their victims – having an altercation which results in one of the migrants getting stabbed. She manages to film the fracas on her mobile phone but then is spotted by the assailant. She is chased by the smugglers, shot at and eventually caught. Paul hears the gunshots and leaps into action to rescue his daughter. He succeeds, but now they’re on the run in the middle of the mountains.

This is all fairly standard fair, to be honest. But it whisks along at a good pace and is an engaging way to wile away the time. Sara, like most teenage kids in thrillers like this, is an annoying and stubborn individual who will inevitably do something stupid – such as stand on the roof of the abandoned fort where they’re hiding out in plain sight of the men who are chasing them – which will land them in trouble. It’s all pretty cliched and predictable stuff. But the backdrop of the French Alps – they’re very close to the Italian border – is stunning. And unless there’s been some very clever AI trickery, Philippe Bas who plays Paul is clearly a very accomplished climber. He also directed the production – his first foray into that area of the business.

Okay, so it doesn’t offer anything new to the genre; but it’s got a certain charm and is definitely worth checking out.

Walter Presents: “The Devil's Leap” is available as a boxset on C4 Streaming now.