Running time: 124 minutes
Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Scott Glenn, Robin Tunney, Izabella Scorupco, Nicholas Lea
Rating 5 out of 10
You know you're in trouble when into the opening scene of the beautiful, sunlit Monument Valley soars a computer generated eagle, a clumsily rendered eagle at that, flapping jerkily across the sky. It was at about this point I abandoned belief and sat back hoping that in its stead would be sufficient excitement to warrant such blatant deception. Alas I was disappointed, but hardly surprised as Vertical Limit ascended its way to incredulity and inevitability, leaving me gasping for air and relief.
Peter Garrett (O'Donnell) and his sister Annie (Tunney) fell out, literally, when Peter was forced to cut their dangling father loose following a climbing accident. Years later Annie finds herself employed by wealthy and thrill seeking businessman Elliott Vaughn (Paxton) to help him scale K2, the world's second highest peak, in time to wave at the inaugural flight of his Majestic Airlines as it passes over the summit.
Bad weather and tragedy befalls the attempt leaving the only three survivors, Vaughn, Annie and team leader Tom McLaren (Lea), trapped in a cavern beneath the snow. With certain death awaiting, the rescue team, galvanised by Peter, have 36 hours to reach the trapped climbers.
Director Martin Campbell, whose Goldeneye and The Mask Of Zorro gained him a reputation for eliciting every ounce of excitement from a script, has plenty to work with here. Characters are drawn crudely and quickly so as to leave more time for the action, and there is plenty of that as the rescuers embark on the rushed and dangerous mission on which Peter is joined by two bawdy brothers, a Muslim, a beautiful doctor and the enigmatic and spiritual mountain man, Montgomery Wick. As if the rescue itself didn't offer enough drama, there is added a long-standing debt of revenge to be repaid.
Vertical Limit is not without its moments. The setting is spectacular and the relentless pace and perilous task provide plenty of thrills and spills, but much of the suspense is lost to clumsy set ups that leave the audience way ahead of the action.
The film concerns itself little with the practicalities and nuances of mountain climbing. At over two hours long, it also provides scant insight into the minds and thoughts of those who choose to challenge nature and themselves in such harsh surroundings. Only Scott Glenn as the weathered sage Wick provides any life and depth to his character. Perhaps I expected too much and writer Robert King deliberately chose to leave that task to someone else. Instead he has preferred to create a mountaineering melodrama that trades authenticity for action. Whatever its failings, Vertical Limit does ultimately succeed in taking on the constituents of its subject matter. As, like snow, it's light and fluffy and if you hold it too close to the light it dissolves into nothing.
Peter Garrett (O'Donnell) and his sister Annie (Tunney) fell out, literally, when Peter was forced to cut their dangling father loose following a climbing accident. Years later Annie finds herself employed by wealthy and thrill seeking businessman Elliott Vaughn (Paxton) to help him scale K2, the world's second highest peak, in time to wave at the inaugural flight of his Majestic Airlines as it passes over the summit.
Bad weather and tragedy befalls the attempt leaving the only three survivors, Vaughn, Annie and team leader Tom McLaren (Lea), trapped in a cavern beneath the snow. With certain death awaiting, the rescue team, galvanised by Peter, have 36 hours to reach the trapped climbers.
Director Martin Campbell, whose Goldeneye and The Mask Of Zorro gained him a reputation for eliciting every ounce of excitement from a script, has plenty to work with here. Characters are drawn crudely and quickly so as to leave more time for the action, and there is plenty of that as the rescuers embark on the rushed and dangerous mission on which Peter is joined by two bawdy brothers, a Muslim, a beautiful doctor and the enigmatic and spiritual mountain man, Montgomery Wick. As if the rescue itself didn't offer enough drama, there is added a long-standing debt of revenge to be repaid.
Vertical Limit is not without its moments. The setting is spectacular and the relentless pace and perilous task provide plenty of thrills and spills, but much of the suspense is lost to clumsy set ups that leave the audience way ahead of the action.
The film concerns itself little with the practicalities and nuances of mountain climbing. At over two hours long, it also provides scant insight into the minds and thoughts of those who choose to challenge nature and themselves in such harsh surroundings. Only Scott Glenn as the weathered sage Wick provides any life and depth to his character. Perhaps I expected too much and writer Robert King deliberately chose to leave that task to someone else. Instead he has preferred to create a mountaineering melodrama that trades authenticity for action. Whatever its failings, Vertical Limit does ultimately succeed in taking on the constituents of its subject matter. As, like snow, it's light and fluffy and if you hold it too close to the light it dissolves into nothing.
