VERTICAL LIMIT (2000) - Movie Review

Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Scott Glenn, Robin Tunney, Izabella Scorupco, Alexander Siddig, Steve Le Marquand, Ben Mendelsohn, Nicholas Lea, Temuera Morrison, Robert Taylor, Bill Paxton, Stuart Wilson
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Writer: Robert King, Terry Hayes
Runtime: 124 min
Rated: PG-13 for intense life/death situations and brief strong language
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

K2, a 28,250-foot mountain in Pakistan's Karakoram Range, is the setting for this adrenaline-pumping action-adventure. It's a race against time when a retired mountain climber (Chris O'Donnell) leads a rescue mission to save his estranged sister (Robin Tunney) and other members of her team who have become trapped on K2 after a deadly avalanche. Martin Campbell, the celebrated director of The Mask of Zorro and GoldenEye, delivers high-voltage action and exhilarating suspense in a film that pits man against his own limitations and the awesome power of nature's uncontrollable elements.

Review:

The year 2000 was a huge year for blockbusters. "Gladiator", "Mission: Impossible II", "X-Men", "The Perfect Storm", "Charlie's Angels", "The Patriot", "What Women Want", "Scary Movie", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "Meet the Parents" were among the big hits that came out that year. The high-altitude adventure thriller "Vertical Limit" is not one of the major movies of that year. It did okay, but is mostly forgotten today, and has gained something of a bad reputation. For me personally, it's a solid "so bad it's good" guilty pleasure that I enjoy revisiting.

Directed by veteran action helmer Martin Campbell, who is responsible for two of the best James Bond movies ever made ("Goldeneye" and "Casino Royale"), the film is a rip-roaring adventure set on K2, the second highest mountain in the world, after Everest, and it involves a motley crew of climbers who set out to rescue three stranded climbers stuck in a crevasse at 26,000 feet. To this end they bring along canisters of highly unstable military-grade Nitroglycerin. Is this the best idea in the given situation ? Probably not, but who really cares ? "Strap on the nitro !" as one character says in what feels like a line written specifically for the trailer.

It should be noted that climbers absolutely hate this movie. American free solo climber Alex Honnold said it was the least realistic and worst depiction of rock climbing in any film. I wouldn't know, but even to the uninitiated, it still feels horribly innacurate. Although, to be fair, taking this movie seriously or demanding it be realistic, is in fact missing the point. The script, written by Terry Hayes ("The Road Warrior", "Dead Calm") and Robert King ("The Good Wife", "Evil") was originally meant to be a sequel to the 1993 Sylvester Stallone flick "Cliffhanger". An idea as bonkers as blowing holes in a mountain using Nitroglycerin absolutely belongs in a 1990s action flick. To Campbell's credit, he does at least try to keep things as down to earth as possible given the over-the-top premise. It's also a fairly brutal movie, racking up a healthy amount of injuries and broken bones, as well as deaths by explosion, avalanche, noble sacrifice, or straight up murder.

Overall, the writing isn't as horribly bad as other movies I've seen, especially in recent years. Some lines are at least amusing. However, it's also far too generic and cliche-ridden to stand out among much better action-adventure movies. The set pieces strain crediblity to its breaking point, but they are fairly intense and fun, lovingly crafted and executed, beautifully shot by DP David Tattersall ("Con Air", "Star Wars" Episodes I, II and III), and vigurously edited by Thom Noble ("Witness", "Red Dawn", "The Exorcist III"). It also features a fantastic score composed by James Newton Howard with an ear-worm of a main theme.

Scott Glenn, Robin Tunney, Chris O'Donnell, Izabella Scorupco, Alexander Siddig, Ben Mendelsohn, Temuera Morrison, Robert Taylor, Bill Paxton and Nicholas Lea round out a solid ensemble of stock characters. Nobody gives the performance of a lifetime in this movie, some are a bit wooden, but nobody is phoning it in, either, and the actors even performed many of their own stunts. Paxton and Glenn are just about the only standouts, doing the most with what they're given. Let's just sum it up by saying the acting is passable and move on.

If you're a climber, you should avoid this movie. It does to mountain climbing what the "Gladiator" movies do to history. But if you usually enjoy well-crafted mindless action flicks, you can always do a lot worse than "Vertical Limit".

SCORE: 6.5/10