Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Chris O’Donnell, Robin Tunney, Bill Paxton, Scott Glenn, Roshen Seth
Izabella Scorupco, Ben Mendelsohn, Alexander Siddig, Temuera Morrison, Stuart Wilson
Year: 2000
At first I thought that Vertical Limit would be better than Cliffhanger simply because it seemed to want to focus on the reality of climbing; the technical prowess, the physical fortitude, the inherent danger, and the thrill of going where few have gone before. That’s how it started anyway, like an ode to the mountain and the mountaineer, a love story to the thrill ride of pushing yourself beyond where intelligence tells you to stop. But that could be a good example of the film too, unfortunately; they went so far their brains lost oxygen and they started making horrible decisions, one of which was to release such a horrific film.
Siblings Peter and Annie Garrett lose their father in a climbing accident, and are scarred from that day on. It doesn’t stop them though, they both go on up into the mountains anyway, Peter to photograph and Annie to reach higher, to become the best female climber on the planet. But when a rich asshole wants to set records, their safety will be put in jeopardy, and they’ll have to relive terrible choices once again. On a rescue mission with high explosives, Peter will have to face his fears and push through his limits if he wants to save his sister’s life, and prove that his is just beginning.
I was on board for a little while …until I big fat wasn’t. It started OK, good back story, lots of technical attention, seemed like it was gonna be a bit of a serious drama beneath the spectacle. But then came Bill Paxton’s bad bravado and a bunch of canisters of unstable nitroglycerine. The acting may have been bad, but honestly the nitro props were worse; that story arc was so dumb it made me want to pull my hair out. That’s where the plot left planet Earth, that’s when the acting got even worse, and that’s where we all checked out of this film, which could have been good but chose, instead, to be god awful.
My rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆