Límite vertical

Years after he and his sister survived a climbing accident where their father died, Peter and Annie Garrett find themselves on K2 for different reasons. Peter is on the foothills taking pictures for National Geographic, while Annie is part of the documentary crew with playboy millionaire Elliot Vaughn, who is aiming to reach the summit in time to promote the launch of his new airline. However when a storm comes in., most of the party are killed with only Elliot, Annie and leader Tom surviving in a crevice. Peter puts together a rescue mission, led by veteran Montgomery Wick.

It is just this film's bad luck that I watched it only a matter of days after I saw the much better Touching The Void. That film had me on the edge of my seat with my mouth agape at times with a story of a climbing accident and the aftermath. However Vertical Limit doesn't go for realism at any point. The plot is a real mess; it doesn't risk having it's thrills from the effects of the mountain so it also adds a traditional bad guy and a `wages of fear' twist involving the climbers carrying nitro in their backpacks. That's not to say the film doesn't have exciting moments - the opening scene is very dramatic and powerful (despite O'Donnell's crap wide-eyed acting) but it never reaches that again. Instead, it settles for effect shots of climbers hanging over great heights etc. These are visually impressive and they do manage to get a sense of urgency to them but it never lasts long.

It's a shame, because Cliffhanger was enjoyable and Void showed that the real drama can come from just the mountain itself, however here it keeps adding more stuff to try and force drama out of the situation. The lack of real characters is a problem - instead we have very wide clichés almost; `dudes', wise old men, ruthless billionaires, sexy mountain chick and clean cut siblings. Aside from the opening sequence, it is hard to feel an emotional connection to any of them and, as the latest disposable actor hangs over a drop awaiting the chop I was more focused on how good it looked rather than nerves over the outcome. O'Donnell is as bland as he often can be and didn't impress me at all; likewise Tunney was a bit `all-American' for my taste. Paxton could have been sending up Richard Branson if he hadn't been playing it so straight. In a similar vein, Glenn would have been better if he'd put his tongue in his cheek and acknowledged how daft his character was! The support cast or `drop monkeys' as I call them are an average enough bunch but the film basically kills them off one by one like a horror movie - to much audience apathy I might add.

Overall this is an OK film if you can just turn off your brain and enjoy the vertigo-inducing effects. However with no good plot, dialogue or characters it will be very difficult for anyone to really get involved in the film beyond this aspect. I can only plea to you to seek out a film with a fraction the budget of this and that's Touching The Void. It is a true story with no digital effects but it is a similar setting but much, much better.

In this high-octane action film, three climbers make stupid decisions at 26,000 feet, en route to the summit of K2, the world's second highest mountain. The climber's peril thus necessitates a rescue, which puts additional people on the mountain and at risk of dying. That's it. The story is thus fairly thin, but the filmmakers insert all kinds of natural and human obstacles, conflict, and difficulties to rev up the action and excitement.

The film's CGI creates compelling tension. We have the illusion of vertical scale, or perspective, which translates into a needed sense of vertigo. The sensation that the characters could, at any moment, fall to their deaths is the film's strength.

The mountain scenery is also nice, although it is sometimes wasted, because of the film's fast pace. Cinematography is quite good. And some of the scene transitions make the film flow really well.

Dialogue seems flat to me. Production design and costumes are adequate. Acting is largely irrelevant.

By far, the biggest flaw is the unrealistic amount of action. In the plot, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, from bad weather to avalanches to exploding nitro to human conflict and discord. It's all a bit much. But, that seems to be a problem inherent to outdoor action films. Directors cram in too much chaos.

Another minus is the background music, which is irritatingly nondescript. For a film set mostly in Asia, I could have wished for more indigenous music which, when combined with the majesty of the mountains, could have added emotional depth and a sense of mystery and awe.

"Vertical Limit" does have an emotional spine to its story, but that is secondary to the super action plot. Viewers who expect well thought out characters, meticulous plotting, or a subtle "theme" will need to look elsewhere. This film is strictly for people who like heavy-duty outdoor action.

I'm surprised by all the hostility shown toward this movie on IMDb. Had I read the reviews here, I would have skipped this well-made and entertaining film. For one thing, it was a pleasure to see an action movie that didn't involve guns and shooting - enough of that nonsense. Instead, this film is full of spectacular scenery, good looking actors and actresses, and some unexpected insights into issues of morality, judgment and sacrifice. As far as the accuracy about details of climbing, I couldn't care less. This is not a how-to movie. And as for the wisdom of transporting nitroglycerin across dangerous terrain, check out Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece, "The Wages of Fear" or its excellent remake by William Friedkin, "Sorcerer." Neither one of these great films was hampered by such a questionable premise. I highly recommend "Vertical Limit" for exciting escapism.

It's not the painfully thin story line, predictable plot or shallow stereotypical characters featured in this movie. It's not even the constant stream of amazingly improbable events, which give you the feeling the director hopelessly underestimated the reasoning abilities of his audience.

What left me disappointed and even a bit annoyed after seeing "Vertical Limit" is the absolute and total failure of this movie to capture any of the real thrill, excitement and hardship involved in scaling the world's second highest mountain.

Books like Jon Krakauers' "Into thin Air" and movies like David Breashears' "Everest" prove that you don't need helicopter rotor blades threatening to dismember climbers or unstable nitroglycerine that explodes if exposed to sunlight to create an exciting story. When Martin Campbell decided to deny the audience any sense of the real technical, physical and emotional challenges of climbing K2, and therefore had to resort to action-movie style heroes, villains and explosions, he left behind a movie too unconvincing, for me to enjoy.

When I saw this shortly after it came out on DVD, it got high marks just for the spectacular sound alone. It had some of the best rear-speaker sound I had ever heard. It was a showpiece for DVD players at the time.

The movie is interesting with it's main fault being a common one: overdone action at the end. Along the way, however, it has many almost jaw-dropping scenes and some spectacular mountain scenery which looks great on the sharp DVD transfer. The stunt work in here is also incredible. Martin Campbell, the same director who did The Mask Of Zorro and Goldeneye, is good at producing eye-popping action scenes.

The dialog at times is juvenile, but it could have been worse. The profanity was lower than expected, too. How accurate is it concerning mountain-climbing? Probably like most films: totally inaccurate, at least that's what a mountain- climbing expert told me, and I believe him.

All in all, however, a far better film than I expected.....strictly for the entertainment.