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Someone, and I believe it was myself, remarked the other day that Hollywood never really ceased producing B movies, they merely increased the budgets to over one hundred million dollars and classified them as A movies, which is the case for “Vertical Limit.” Hollywood knows how to market poorly built pulp novels’ interactions with its masses, throw money into it hiring good actors, and pay a few people to write scripts. Alternatively, similar to “The Perfect Storm” it portrays the story of climbers battling with a force greater than them in a vivid and tuned manner. One major distinction is that “Storm” isn’t afraid to expose the wounds as well as the blunders and mistakes of the characters, and they are forced to bear the consequences of their errors, whereas “Vertical Limit” chugs along cheerfully till one of those ends in which everybody gets everything they should not except some sacrificial side characters.
As a warning sign, whenever a film makes reference to nitro glycerin in the narrative, that is a red flag. Nitro has made an appearance in well known movies like “The Wages of Fear” and “Sorcerer” however, even in those movies, nitro is of great concern especially when it is said that it has the capacity to blow up at a certain stage in the movie, and most times it does but always in accordance with the story.
Nitro is brought into the equation in the film ‘Vertical Limit’, where three climbers are stuck inside an ice cave at the height of K2. The team consists of a greedy entrepreneur, an experienced guide, and the climber’s sister, the protagonist. Zuko, the protagonist of the film to me, heads a gaggle of six volunteers who also go on a rather death wish of a rescue mission. Since explosives are used in the mountains from time to time to help start avalanches, it was clear that they would pack explosives for their rescue mission, but a nitro explosion is a little extreme for me. During the movie one tried to explain how an explosive could be beneficial to a firefighter doing a question and answer session, but as far as I remember, nitros were used in one of the scenes.
The nitro is required, the remainder of the time, in order to endanger the rescue team, to generate suspense, to startle us with unexpected blasts and to get rid of side characters so that the only things remaining for the peak are the speaking roles. The nitro is a clear proof that “Vertical Limit” is not really a true movie about the challenges and ethics of ascents it’s a snowed-up variety thriller. That said, it is actually good on its own and the film is certainly a B type adventure but I wonder what an A type adventure film would look like if it was crafted from the same material as this one.
In the movie, Chris O’Donnell plays the role of Peter Garrett who happens to be a photographer working for national geographic. He is seen alongside his sibling Annie(Tunney) together with their father during the first segment of the movie’s title sequence which culminates with Peter severing a rope that leads his father to his death, while enabling him and subsequent Annie to survive. If not, three lives could have, or would have, been preserved. This is a point where Peter and Annie don’t see eye to eye. This, however, is, according to the no-toes mountain guide Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), what Peter should have done so it is expected that sooner or later someone else from the film, who once or once again does that final decision will do it.
Annie, a world-famous climber finds herself on the mountain alongside Bill Paxton’s Elliot Vaughn who is the millionaire owner of an airline company, and Nicholas Lea’s Tom McLaren who is an accomplished mountain guide. Vaughn shares his ambitions with the team, which is to have his K2’s Airbus jet fly directly over him while he stands atop of the mountain. This leads to a climactic turn where Mclaren believes it is time to head back but Vaughn refuses to do so, leading the team to make a risky climb instead.
For me, mountain climbing culminates into one dreadful nightmare: I fall from dizzying altitudes and blame myself for being foolish enough to have voluntarily climbed that high. I’ve watched several climbing documentaries in which people do astounding things, but none quite even close to the footage in “Vertical Limit.” The mix of doing the stunts and the special effects is brilliant. They manage to build the tension while climbing out of awkward angles, even if at times we feel the urge to shout at the screen. (In one part of the movie, a climber is dangling by one arm off the ledge of a mountain but, standing at an utterly vertical ledge, another climber walks up – without any harness on. In another scene a climber drives her ice-axe far too close to a cliff’s edge that she should have.) Another effective shot depicts the six rescuers being planted at 22000 feet via a periled helicopter drop. Others illustrate how unpredictably everything can overtake disorder. the mountain chicken has set for them as a conspiracy (after watching them, I quickly discovered they died from dehydration). Furthermore, there are solid ones especially Glenn as the tough climber with a hidden interest.
Vertical Limit makes an impressive outing with its attention and skill, and yes, at times the actors are suspended over a sheer vertical drop of a mile and we don’t object to how that archetype captures our imagination.
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