Reviewed

Vertical Limit (2000) - Columbia/TriStar

Director : Martin Campbell

Starring : Scott Glenn Chris O'Donnell Bill Paxton Robin Tunney Temuera Morrison Izabella Scorupco.

Picture 1.85:1, DD 5.1, Dual-Layer, Keep Case

Running Time : 124 mins

The story:

Hold your breath

K2, a 28,250-foot mountain in Pakistan's Karakoram Range, is the setting for this action-adventure disaster movie. Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) is a retired mountain-climber who is forced into leading a rescue mission to save his sister Annie (Robin Tunney) and her team who are trapped high up K2. Battling against time and the perilous mountain conditions, rations are fast running out for Annie, who seems destined to become just another statistic of those who have perished on the world most deadly mountain..

The summary:

Another big-budget action/disaster movie, this time the action takes place 28,000 feet up on K2. With such a magnificent location you know from the outset this is going to be visually stunning, but does the story live up to the good looks? Alas no, not even close. The action follows the typical 'disaster-movie' style and early on in the film you'll have already made up your mind who the good and bad characters are. The good take stupid risks whilst the bad try their hardest to hamper the rescue. We've all seen it before so this is no spoiler. Vertical Limit's main problem is that it sticks far too rigidly to the tried and trusted formula making it far too predictable. We're not expecting 'Sixth Sense' style twists in the plot, but things get frustrating at times as the characters make stupid decisions against their better judgment for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

Sadly, come the end of the film there's no last trick up the sleeve; you've already been dealt the whole hand in the first 20 minutes. I wont spoil the ending but it really makes no sense whatsoever, you'll just be left puzzled at how they managed to do something they earlier said couldn't be done. Anyway, enough griping, lets consider the film's admittedly many good points. I perhaps didn't appreciate just how much effort had gone into making the film. If you watch the extras, you'll find that in order to make the film as realistic as possible, the actors were all trained to climb and alot of the footage was actually shot in the mountains. The various stunts and action sequences look marvelous, there's no doubt that visually this film nears perfection. If only the script was worth all this fuss.

The DVD is of great quality, which is far more than the film really deserves. The transfer is pretty amazing with the picture especially being superb quality and real showcase material. And luckily, to round things off, the extra's provide good reason to purchase the disc if the film alone hasn't quite convinced you!

Extras:

* Audio Commentary - With Director Martin Campbell and Producer Lloyd Phillips. This is actually a fascinating commentary and explains in detail the challenges they faced filming Vertical Limit in the mountain environment. You'll actually appreciate the film more when you realise the effort and lengths they went to making it!

* Surviving the Limit - A documentary that compliments the audio commentary, showing us the dangers and challenges involved in filming. This is a well-made documentary but like the HBO making-of's, it leans towards the promotional side a bit too much. Well worth a watch though as there's some great footage in here. 24 minutes.

* Theatrical Trailers - The Vertical Limit trailer, plus additional trailers for "Cliffhanger", "Charlie's Angels" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"..

* Quest For K2 - This is a National Geographic featurette about K2, detailing successful and failed attempts at scaling the mountain and other facts and info about it. Short but highly watchable at 13 minutes.

* Talent Files - Of the cast and crew.

* Search and Rescue Tales - This section contains 8 short featurettes which are all unsurprisingly mountain-related! Each featurette is detailed below:-

* Vertigo Magic - This featurette takes a look at the mountain action, featuring the special effects and climbing scenes. 5 mins 30 secs.

* Trekking To K2 - Here we are shown how to prepare for a K2 ascent and what to expect when we get there. This featurette includes some narrated footage from K2. 7 mins 15 secs.

* Easy As Falling Off a Cliff - See what the actors had to go through in their month-long training for the film. This starts off with indoor climbing and progresses onto the more dangerous outdoor climbs. 5 mins 5 secs.

* Avalanche! - Obviously about avalanches, this featurette tells us about real-life avalanches and how they were recreated for the film. 3 mins 22 secs.

* The Death Zone - This is the effects on the body of a climber high up on a mountain. These shorter featurettes would have been better incorporated into a single documentary. 3 mins 30 secs.

* Peak Performance - This is about the real-life climbers who were on hand for help and advice during filming. 3 mins.

* Elixir Of Life - The effects of a mountain on a climbers body can be dangerous (if you've seen the film you'll already know about this) and this featurette takes a look at the medical science to save climbers. 4:05.

* Credits - The credits for these features with short interview snippets from the actors. 1 min 15 secs.

Our Verdict...

A stunning-looking film but for all it's daredevil action and realism, the story doesn't live up to expectations. An average and predictable action-movie. 5/10

A fantastic picture that shows off the stunning mountain views almost to perfection. From the dark cave scenes to the sunlit mountain slopes, the picture never falters once. 10/10

A strong soundtrack too, with the 5.1 mix displaying a health balance between crisp dialogue and meaty sound effects in the latter part of the film. Wonderful! 9/10

A fair amount of extras included but aside from the commentary and documentaries, the rest consists of short featurettes that total around 32 minutes. Still, it represents good value for money and some are more watchable than the film! 6/10

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