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Sometimes
you want a deep, character-driven movie, with lots of hypothetical
situations and Oscar written all over it.
And
sometimes you want to be super glued to the edge of your seat.
That's
exactly what "Vertical Limit," the newest release from
Columbia Tristar, will do. You won't find a lot of slick dialogue, a
lot of hidden messages, or a lot of Oscar nominations come February. |
What
you will find is some old-fashioned suspense, a lot of nail biting,
and some of the most daring and bravest stunt people in the history
of cinema.
The
setting for the movie is K2, one of the highest mountains in the
world, and the peak generally proclaimed by the experts to be the
toughest mountain in the world to climb. Billionaire oil tycoon
Elliott Vaughn (Bill Paxton, "Twister") wants to climb to
the top of K2 as a publicity stunt to promote his new airline. One of
the top K2 guides in the world (Nicholas Lea, who hasn't played in
anything else worth noting, but did date Lucy Liu for a couple of
years) and the fastest female climber in the world (Robin Tunney,
"End Of Days") go up with him. Disaster strikes when a
storm, which Vaughn had ignored, hits them . . . and a rescue mission
is needed.
That
rescue mission is organized by the woman's brother, ex-mountain
climber-turned photographer Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell,
"Batman and Robin") and led by Montgomery Wick (Scott
Glenn, "Firestorm"), a man who knows the mountain better
than anyone else alive. The pair are joined by a Pakistani local, a
woman looking for a way out, and a pair of drunk brothers who have
nothing better to do.
It
all makes for one wild climb up the mountain, with Garrett and Wick
having painful experiences in their pasts. Several explosions, a few
avalanches here or there, some ropes breaking, and one big canyon
later, they get to the original climbing team, and that's when all of
the individual secrets and pasts intertwine into one, and it makes
for a very climactic finish.
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However,
the way all the individual stories blend into one isn't the most
attractive thing about this movie. The most amazing thing is the
level of stunts being performed. Not just the people that are doing
them, but the people that had to tape them, and hold the microphones
over their heads. Chris O'Donnell said recently that none of the
stunt people died in the making of the movie, and that is an
incredible |
Chris
O'Donnell stars in the Sony Pictures thriller Vertical
Limit
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statement
to believe after watching it.
All
in all, it's unlikely that this movie will win any awards come 2001.
But maybe it should. After all, it's been a very long time since a
movie has been released that can hold a viewer to the edge of his or
her seat for the full two hours. As soon as one problem is solved,
another arises. Just as one person's life is saved, another's is in
jeopardy. The cast and crew of "Vertical Limit" redefined
what suspense in movies is all about, and that is what is going to
have people coming back to watch the movie for a second and third time.
Review
by Mitch
Worthington
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