Vertical Limit looks fantastic but reaches
new heights in tired action-movie cliches
By
MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal Arts Writer
Movie
credits and review Vertical Limit
is packed with so many hold-your-breath thrills that it would have been a much more satisfying movie if the filmmakers had left it at that.
Maybe they could have put it on the IMAX screen in 3-D and really come out ahead.
There are two avalanches, a couple of nitroglycerine explosions, plus innumerable moments when people dangle precariously over deep chasms, their ropes slowly pulling out of the hooks stuck in the mountain wall.
All this makes for practically nonstop excitement. Imagine hanging from the side of a helicopter and trying to jump onto an icy ledge, then trying to get out of the way of the whirring blades.
The adventures in
Vertical Limit
jump off the screen right from the start, as a family of climbers in Utah's Monument Valley face death in a shudderingly terrifying moment that director Martin Campbell
(The Mask of Zorro)
plays out to an adrenaline-pumping degree
.
There's barely any letup right to the end. And the special effects throughout are thunderingly awesome.
Unfortunately
Vertical Limit
reaches its limit in a plot that uses those hoary old action movie cliches -- a nasty villain, revenge, murder and amazing coincidence.
Chris O'Donnell, who once was Robin to Batman, plays once-daring climber Peter Garrett who has been scarred by a tragic accident involving his family. Now a National Geographic photographer, he arrives at K2 in time to watch his sister, Annie (Robin Tunney), the world's best woman climber, shepherd a climb by billionaire Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton). Elliot, whose first and only concern is himself, wants to reach K2's summit at the moment his new airline company makes its maiden flight over the Himalayas.
They make the climb with an experienced leader (Nicholas Lea, of
The X-Files)who, when storm warnings go up, wants to turn back but is egged on by Elliot. These are the three who will fall into a cravass that then gets covered over with snow, forming an ice cave.
This is where the filmmakers begin begging us to suspend our disbelief. For starters, the cave looks a lot like a studio set. And when the trapped climbers in that icy cave speak -- oops! -- we can't see their breath.
That's the set-up that allows Peter to organize a foolhardy rescue attempt. Though the odds of getting the three out alive are slim, Peter wants desperately to save his sister, who has been on the outs with him because of that earlier tragedy.
Soon we're on that mountain with them, hanging on for life as they face avalanches and collapsing ledges of snow. Soon, also, the plot machinations kick in. Elliot's self-preservation instincts take hold and his meanness goes into overdrive. Scott Glenn, as the half-crazed leader of the rescue team, turns out to have a mad need for revenge against Elliot. As the film turns to old-fashioned melodrama, it loses some of its power.
Despite that, however, you can't discount the eye-popping sight of a wall of snow flooding down at you. For that,
Vertical Limit
is a marvel.
***
Vertical Limit
Starring
: Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn, Izabella Scorupco, Nicholas Lea.
Producers:
A Columbia Pictures release written by Robert King and Terry Hayes, directed by Martin Campbell.
Playing
: Apple Valley, Campus, Entertainment Cinemas, Harbour Mall, North Dartmouth Mall, Opera House, Showcase North Attleboro, Showcase Seekonk 1-10, Showcase Warwick and Tri-Boro cinemas.
Rated
: PG-13, contains violence, profanity.
Running time:
2 hours.
Digital extra
Photos, maps and three months' dispatches from a real-life K2 expedition:
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