Movie Reviews

Vertical Limit

21 Dec 2000

A friend of mine, in praising Die Hard, once described it as "the first film that was just all-out action." I argued about this, reminding him of such classics as Rambo, Raiders of the Lost Ark, even the James Bond series. He dismissed these: "Oh, they had things like back story and character development."

He would probably enjoy Vertical Limit. It swings into action immediately with a scene which, like a James Bond prologue, prepares us for the upcoming madness. From there, it slows down only occasionally for character interaction. Not that it provides three-dimensional characters, but in a two-hour film, there is only so much "all-out action" we can take.

Chris O'Donnell plays Peter Garrett (no, not THAT Peter Garrett), a "National Geographic" photographer whose sister Annie (Robin Tunney), a champion mountaineer, has joined an expedition to climb K2. It is all a publicity stunt for Texan mountaineer Elliott Vaughn (Bill Paxton), a self-seeking millionaire tycoon. When he refuses to turn back during the inevitable storm, he and Annie are swept into a crevasse.

Peter launches a mission to rescue them, with a small team of mountain men, including a capable but insane veteran (Scott Glenn) and two larrikin Aussies (Ben Mendelsohn and Steve Le Marquand), who waver between being self-consciously amusing and merely obnoxious. Oh, there's also a beautiful woman (Izabella Scorupco), who continues to look good in this rugged terrain. Almost forgot about her.

Though Martin Campbell directs with a sure hand, the best thing about this film is the scenery, with or without the blizzards and avalanches. In case it inspires you to visit the Himalayas, it's worth noting that it was filmed much closer to home, in New Zealand. Hence the antipodeans in the cast: along with Mendelsohn and Le Marquand, we have Temuera Morrison (rather good as a Pakistani Major), and Robert Taylor as an affable Australian called "Skip" (which is perhaps slightly preferable to "Wally" or "Blue").

It's action (almost) all the way - and whenever its length seems to be stretching the limits of the audience, it finds an excuse for some neat explosions. Vertical Limit might be set in the Himalayas and filmed in New Zealand, but it's pure Hollywood.