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In ．Vertical Limit・, director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye) gives us a concentrated dose of high altitude adrenaline. Like so many Hollywood productions today, the plot is so basic that it seems to be tailor-made for the comprehension of Forrest Gump. Peter and Annie Garrett played by the preppy Chris O・Donnell (Batman Forever, The Bachelor) and the pouty Robin Tunney (End of Days, Supernova) are emotionally troubled siblings who went their separate ways due to the death of their father in an extreme family outing.
The two reunite three years later upon K2, the ．tougher to climb than Everest・ mountain where Annie is part of an expedition team funded by an arrogant capitalist played by Bill Paxton (Twister). She gets trapped with the only 2 surviving members of her team with no hope but to slowly die on K2. Armed with canisters of highly explosive nitro-glycerin, Peter leads 5 unlikely mountain climbers to the rescue. Their intention is of course, to ．blow・ their way to the survivors with absolutely no consideration for the rest of the snow-capped Himalayas. The spectacular opening scene looks virtually identical to the one from ．Mission Impossible 2・ and the rest of the story, down to the gratuitous happy ending, is yawningly predictable.
The brother sister relationship between O・Donnell & Tunney is unconvincing, spurred by the fact that both are as bland as rice crackers. Nonetheless, O・Donnell serves well as the wholesome American hero in the perfect apple pie manner. Tunney is splendidly ornamental which is characteristically consistent with her previous film roles. Despite O・Donnell and Tunneys・ acting potential, both are reduced to play stereotypically uninspiring roles in ．Vertical Limit・. Upon a brighter note, Scott Glenn is solid in his role as Montgomery Wick, a hard veteran mountain climber with a mysterious agenda. With a hairstyle Vidal Sassoon would condemn, the physical appearance of this mountain king has an uncanny resemblance to the long lost twin of the rocker, Iggy Pop. Glenn stands out in his role as the reclusive toeless yeti but I felt his mumbling recitations from the Tibetan Book of the Dead was somewhat pretentious for a B-movie, albeit one with a multi-million budget. Bill Paxton is at his B-movie・s best as Elliot Vaughn, a self-indulgent billionaire and ．bad-guy・ in the film who has an ego bigger than the mountain he is climbing. Vaughn is unsubtly modelled on Richard Branson which makes me wonder who Mr. Branson pissed off at Sony Pictures.
Although ．Vertical Limit・ does not have masculine take of ．Cliffhanger・ nor the relentless human spirit of ．Alive・, it has explosive action and stunts that are unparallel in films of this genre. The seamless editing of the action scenes is worth every penny to see on a big-screen but any film which is spearheaded by action and stunts is hardly a worthy drama. However, even the most memorable action scene where O・Donnell leaps across a cliff armed with only a pair of pickaxes for a wall landing was a little beyond belief. I imagine, in reality, the scene could only be safely performed by Wily E. Coyote from ．The Road Runner Show・!
This was definitely not a ．human spirit soaring to the heavens・ romantic portrayal of mountain climbing, in fact the film graphically depicts all combinations of the sport・s potential negative outcomes. I continue to remain completely baffled by people who have compulsions to scale dangerous mountains. Surely there are safer substitutes to test your own limits, say, timing yourself whilst holding your breath in the bathtub?
For much of the film, I found myself eagerly anticipating the action sequences but the rest was all too much like sitting through a dreary commercial break. The tension between the characters appears all too casual, failing to explore the depths of human emotion during a catastrophic crisis. The film does not deliver its full potential because the drama fails to reach the heart and it left me feeling quite unsympathetic towards the issues addressed.
Take my advice, after consuming vast quantities of alcohol and switching the air-conditioner to full sub-zero blast, everything becomes quite plausible as with all good mindless entertainment.
The two reunite three years later upon K2, the ．tougher to climb than Everest・ mountain where Annie is part of an expedition team funded by an arrogant capitalist played by Bill Paxton (Twister). She gets trapped with the only 2 surviving members of her team with no hope but to slowly die on K2. Armed with canisters of highly explosive nitro-glycerin, Peter leads 5 unlikely mountain climbers to the rescue. Their intention is of course, to ．blow・ their way to the survivors with absolutely no consideration for the rest of the snow-capped Himalayas. The spectacular opening scene looks virtually identical to the one from ．Mission Impossible 2・ and the rest of the story, down to the gratuitous happy ending, is yawningly predictable.
The brother sister relationship between O・Donnell & Tunney is unconvincing, spurred by the fact that both are as bland as rice crackers. Nonetheless, O・Donnell serves well as the wholesome American hero in the perfect apple pie manner. Tunney is splendidly ornamental which is characteristically consistent with her previous film roles. Despite O・Donnell and Tunneys・ acting potential, both are reduced to play stereotypically uninspiring roles in ．Vertical Limit・. Upon a brighter note, Scott Glenn is solid in his role as Montgomery Wick, a hard veteran mountain climber with a mysterious agenda. With a hairstyle Vidal Sassoon would condemn, the physical appearance of this mountain king has an uncanny resemblance to the long lost twin of the rocker, Iggy Pop. Glenn stands out in his role as the reclusive toeless yeti but I felt his mumbling recitations from the Tibetan Book of the Dead was somewhat pretentious for a B-movie, albeit one with a multi-million budget. Bill Paxton is at his B-movie・s best as Elliot Vaughn, a self-indulgent billionaire and ．bad-guy・ in the film who has an ego bigger than the mountain he is climbing. Vaughn is unsubtly modelled on Richard Branson which makes me wonder who Mr. Branson pissed off at Sony Pictures.
Although ．Vertical Limit・ does not have masculine take of ．Cliffhanger・ nor the relentless human spirit of ．Alive・, it has explosive action and stunts that are unparallel in films of this genre. The seamless editing of the action scenes is worth every penny to see on a big-screen but any film which is spearheaded by action and stunts is hardly a worthy drama. However, even the most memorable action scene where O・Donnell leaps across a cliff armed with only a pair of pickaxes for a wall landing was a little beyond belief. I imagine, in reality, the scene could only be safely performed by Wily E. Coyote from ．The Road Runner Show・!
This was definitely not a ．human spirit soaring to the heavens・ romantic portrayal of mountain climbing, in fact the film graphically depicts all combinations of the sport・s potential negative outcomes. I continue to remain completely baffled by people who have compulsions to scale dangerous mountains. Surely there are safer substitutes to test your own limits, say, timing yourself whilst holding your breath in the bathtub?
For much of the film, I found myself eagerly anticipating the action sequences but the rest was all too much like sitting through a dreary commercial break. The tension between the characters appears all too casual, failing to explore the depths of human emotion during a catastrophic crisis. The film does not deliver its full potential because the drama fails to reach the heart and it left me feeling quite unsympathetic towards the issues addressed.
Take my advice, after consuming vast quantities of alcohol and switching the air-conditioner to full sub-zero blast, everything becomes quite plausible as with all good mindless entertainment.
