Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Chris O’Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Nicholas Lea, Alexander Siddig, Scott Glenn, Izabella Scorupco, Steve Le Marquand, Ben Mendelsohn

- Reviewed by Tim

Pointy mountains, nitroglycerin, freezing cold temperatures, eternal regret and reoccurring themes, what more could you ask for in a mountain rescue movie? Can you imaging being one of those people who feels the need to force themselves up a mountain? I’m not talking the weekend hikers here, I’m talking 26,000 feet up the side of a frozen monster. I would be the first to suggest staying in the lodge and sitting by the warm cozy fire. Would you like a cuppa hot chocolate? (With the little marshmallows, please.)

Ok, the first scene of Vertical Limit was, I think, one of the most stressful couple of minutes I have spent in a movie theatre. Not only does this scene make you cringe, it sets the underlying tone for the entire movie. Peter Garrett (Chris O’Donnell) makes a decision that changes everything in  his and his sister’s life. (Trauma!)

Years later, Peter’s sister, Annie (Robin Tunney) is commissioned to bring billionaire Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton) to the top of K2. Vaughn is some big tycoon, with money pouring out of his ears and little regard for safe climbing practices. This would be Vaughn’s second attempt up the mountain and at least one local, Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), has doubt as to what actually happened his first time up. It seems that there was the need to rescue him and anyone else still alive.

As you would expect, Vaughn’s second trip runs into major difficulties after persuading the climbing leader, Tom McLaren (Nicholas Lea), to press on, even though they were headed into a major storm. This, of course, leads to most of the climbing party being swept away by an avalanche and three being spit into a large ice crack. Action flicks are good at providing a way for a few people to survive something horrible like that.

The desperate situation on the mountain leads to a heroic rescue attempt. After gathering a party of five others to join him, Peter heads up the big pointy ice cube to bring his sister and the rest of the survivors home. Along the way, we get to see some very tense moments having to do with hanging off the side of the mountain, walking on cracking ice, avalanches, jumping from one peak to another and a particularly grueling helicopter scene. Those pesky sudden down drafts can play hell on the hovering abilities of a helicopter…

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