K2 - A Montanha da Morte

When I first saw this movie's title I thought it was going to be another "Cliff Hanger", but I was wrong.

This multi-national creation is stunningly high quality production. Each scenes are vivid, and points well delivered.

K2 is one of the most dangerous mountain to climb in the world, killing one out of every four who climb's there. This movie captures the audacity, and adventure of the team who dares to attempt it. Very little facts about climbing on K2 were known in 1992, so they did an excellent job getting all the details right.

International cast of actors includes Hiroshi Fujioka who's the original Kamen Rider, and Julia Nickson who was playing various exotic roles both in the US and Asia. Other actors were spot on choices for their roles as well.

I wish I had the physical ability to climb a mountain. My high blood pressure makes me high risk at high altitude, so climbing something above 10000 ft is out of the question. But I wish I can experience some of the extreme conditions like the characters in this movie has experienced. But movies like this gives me the opportunity to feel what it's like to be there.

I remember first seeing this movie when I was eleven or twelve. Then I saw 'Vertical Limit' a few months later and contrary to what I thought would be the case, I enjoyed K2 ten fold more than Martin's Campbell's weak adventure story on the same mountain. Contrary to what many people think, Everest may be the tallest mountain, but K2 is a far more difficult climb.

This film follows two young climbers, Taylor And Harold as they take on the mountain and succeed in reaching the highest peak, because of friendship and the hard team work which comes from loyalty to each other. The picture chooses to focus on characters and emotion, rather than edge of seat adventure. It is the right approach, but as a side effect, the story sometimes plods a little. As a lead role, Michael Biehn is surprisingly good. Typically a supporting actor, I find that many of his performances are a little weak, but not here. He does what is necessary to make a convincing character, far better than Chris O'Donnell in 'Vertical Limit'.

Free from clichés and artificial drama, K2 is a competent and touching movie, maybe not brilliant, but it lifts you.

I have been waiting ages for this film and now, finally, it is out on DVD in the UK. This film did not disappoint me one bit and kept me thoroughly entertained. I was a big fan of Vertical Limit when it hit the cinemas but there can be no comparisons made. Where Vertical Limit aimed more for suspense and thrills, K2 follows character development and realism.

Taylor Brooks (Michael Biehn) and Harold Jameson (Matt Craven) are best friends who live almost opposite lives but share one common passion, mountain climbing. Brooks is a selfish jerk who has only ever thought about himself where as Jameson is a man driven by his family and his job who cares greatly for the safety of others. These two are perfectly cast without even acting. Biehn's voice is perfect for an arrogant character and Craven's nerdish looks personify a man in the science profession. Biehn does well in this performance to disguise his fear of heights and delivers a very strong, charming performance. He portrays Brooks' obsession with K2 very well and was definitely the right choice to lead this film.

The scenery for this film is simply breath taking, beautiful snowy mountains with a caressing mist. There was one scene where I thought my TV had broken because the screen appeared to be pure white, but then a person enters the shot and the camera starts to pan out, I realise how clean and untouched the snow is. Filming a feature like this is always challenging on crew and cast, equipment and supplies can be buried under 5 feet of snow when the day's up. Everyone rose to challenge and produced a visually stunning film. The climbing sequences allow appear very professional and without doubt help Roddam to build up tension on a bigger scale.

What is best about this film is that behind all the scenery, the suspense and the arguments, there is a very strong message about friendship. It was important for this film to have a positive element because there are so many mishaps and so many dislikeable characters that a lack of positive energy in any form would have made K2 far too bleak. The friendship between Taylor and Harold drives the story and leads to a wonderful transformation within Taylor that is very believable. Character development in this style has sadly been abandoned by Hollywood now in favour of special effects and period pieces.

Very underrated, K2 is definitely the best mountain climbing film I have seen and as a huge Michael Biehn fan, it is great to see him perform so well in a non action role. With the beautiful snowy mountains and great character story, K2 is blissful to watch and leaves you feeling good after watching.

The attorney Taylor Brooks (Michael Biehn) and the professor and family man Harold "H" Jameson (Matt Craven) are best friends and climbers. Harold is married with Cindy (Julia Nickson-Soul) and they have a baby son, and Taylor is a selfish womanizer. One day, they save the life of the famous climber Phillip Claiborne (Raymond J. Barry) and most of his team after an avalanche during a climbing. On the funeral of the two climbers that had died, Taylor asks Claiborne to take Harold and him to complete his team on his next expedition, when Claiborne expects to climb the K2, the second highest mountain on Earth. Soon they travel to Pakistan and they have trouble first when the porters unexpectedly decide to return and then when Claiborne becomes sick with the altitude. Claiborne calls of the climbing, but Taylor and Harold are decided to reach the top of the world at any cost.

"K2" is an underrated dramatic adventure and a tale of perseverance and friendship with impressive landscapes. The cinematography and camera work of this movie are breathtaking and would suffice to make worthwhile watching it. But the story is also beautiful and the fight of Taylor to rescue his only friend is heartbreaking. The soundtrack is also wonderful and is not credited in the movie. The first time I saw this movie was on VHS and today I have just seen it again on DVD. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "K2 – A Montanha da Morte" ("K2 – The Death Mountain")

I liked this movie enough to having watched it three times as of now. With few exceptions, it's a realistic adventure movie - this according to a friend who has done 5000+ meter climbs - with beautiful scenery, very interestingly developing plot, personal intrigues, good humor etc. Also, the acting is generally excellent, where the two main characters are the cream of the crop.

The only thing I don't like is the kind of "Crap, we ran out of money, how do we put a quick end to this?" ending. Also, the quality of the picture is a bit "amateurish", the "home VCR" kind of quality at times with that dreaded bad contrast which makes for a "grey-biassed" picture. Not a good thing for an adventure/trek movie with beautiful scenery.

All in all, it's indeed enjoyable to watch, though. Moderately recommended. Rating: 7/10