originally jcphoenix entertainment
Vertical Limit Review
By: JC Cheung
Director: Martin Campbell
Year: 2001
Format: normal cut
Reviewed: on DVD
Runtime: 124 minutes
SYNOPSIS
Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) and several others must climb K2 to find Peter's sister Annie (Robin Tunney) and her team, and rescue them before they run out of time. He is helped by Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), an expert climber who has another reason to climb the mountain than to just rescue Annie...
Has a couple good things going for it...ruined by a couple bad things.
I have to admit first and foremost that I don't exactly look forward to these kinds of movies that much. That said, this movie managed to at least be, to a certain point, enjoyable. It had several things going for it, but these things were, for the most part, countered by several downsides.
The good things? Now, I'm not an expert on high climates etc here, but from what I know, and what I saw, most of the movie was done accurately. There was more acting needed in this movie than what I expected, and the actors mostly did live up to this expectation. Notice that all the people trapped in the cave were breathing hard throughout the whole time they were there. This certainly isn't much, but it does show that the makers of this movie did attempt to put some accuracy in this movie. (higher elevations-harder to breathe...)
Robin Tunney as Annie was probably the best thespian in this movie. She had all the right expressions at the right times, and some of the scenes did manage to invoke a bit of emotion in me. Chris O'Donnell did a nice job too as her brother, and I must note that Nicholas Lea also impressed me, but Bill Paxton brought the movie down that much more in my opinion. I would say that this is a case of OVERACTING/UNDERREACTING. Much of the acting that came from him was either totally overdone, or totally underdone, especially the part where they zoom in on his ohsofakeoveracting angry face. It just ruined that scene for me - instead of seeming chilling, it seemed like one of those old movies with that cheesy music where they see a villain and they go "DUN DUN DUH!"...Other parts, especially near the beginning of the movie, you notice that he talks in a very monotone voice that seems like he is, well, trying to act.
The Aussies (were they Aussies?) were hilarious. At first I thought that the humour they brought to the movie was not funny, but as the movie progressed, I found myself laughing more with each of their jokes. (EX: Where one of them - Malcolm gets into an akward position and literally tries to kiss his ass goodbye)
Great scenery in this movie. I love the majestic view of the rugged mountains at the beginning, and the breathtaking scenes with K2 in them. This really surprised me as I didn't expect this kind of shoot in this movie - I have to commend whoever was behind the camera for their great work.
A big downside to this movie is the plot and the screenplay. Yes, the first time something went wrong, it did make the movie more exciting/thrilling. No, the fiftieth time something went wrong did not. WAY too much "drama" (for lack of a better word) here. The beginning starts off with a bang when the Peter has to make a certain choice. A bit of an overload on this dramatic moment here, but nothing too bad. But it gets worse. As the movie goes on, basically everything goes wrong. The climbers aren't careful enough, (how on earth, by the way, could they not know about the nitro??) people aren't as they seem, etc...Also, the dialogue was about as cliche'd as it could get in places. There were MANY places when I predicted what they were going to say - and not just roughly, EXACTLY what they were going to say. (Remember the part where he said "Dad've been proud"? I guessed that one right away) The dialogue definitely took away from the performances in this movie, but the actors and actresses did the best they could with what they had. The screenplay is NOT all bad though. I really liked several parts where the writer of the movie was smart enough to leave things unsaid...the expressions on the characters would speak volumes in these places.
I don't know why I gave this movie a 2 in plot and screenplay...it just seemed right. Perhaps it was because, even though they did overdo the script and plot, it was still decent enough to rate a 2 and not a 1 1/2. (Not that 2 is the best plot rating, but then again...plot ratings aren't usually very high anyway)
Most of the bad stuff I picked out were not really big deals anyway. Overall, still an enjoyable movie for a Friday night, especially when you don't originally expect too much from it.