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Guest Review by UrbanFlava

Vertical Limit opens with an American Eagle flying over a majestic American setting in the Utah desert where we are introduced to the Garrett family climbing a sheer rock face. Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell), and his sister Annie (Robin Tunney) accompany their father, Royce (Stuart Wilson) as his gear comes unfastened. They are all connected by one rope so Peter is presented with the dilemma of either cutting his father loose or allowing the entire family to plunge to their deaths. Annie forever holds a grudge at the result of Peter's choice. This scene sets the emotional tone for the remainder of the movie.

Years later, Peter meets his sister, to whom he hasn't spoken since the terrible family tragedy, at the base of K2, the second tallest and many say the most treacherous peak in the world. Accompanying billionaire Elliot Vaughn's (Bill Paxton) publicity stunt to climb to the top of K2, Annie and several members of the expedition become trapped in a crevasse. Peter gathers a rescue party consisting of an assorted cast of characters with emotional baggage of their own and they set out on their mission to rescue the missing climbers.

Vertical Limit is very predictable and is loaded with character stereotypes and cliches as we have Monique (Izabella Scorupco) as the hot babe love interest, and Mel and Cyril (Ben Mendehlson and Steve LeMarquand respectively) as the comedy duo.

The special effects and cinematography are actually quite awe-inspiring and will leave you at a loss for words, but is quite obviously used to cover up the terrible acting, weak story and unrealistic features. Although Martin Campbell's direction deserves mention here as a much better product than his prior work, The Mask of Zorro, it's a true shame that this movie itself didn't fall into a deep crevasse.

Guest Review by UrbanFlava

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