Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Vertical Limit (2000)

Director: Martin Campbell

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Campbell knows how to make the best of vertiginous jeopardy, but second-rank stars and a contrived, over-plotted screenplay prove an insurmountable object to this amalgam of Cliffhanger and The Wages of Fear. There's an effective pre-credits attention grabber as we join siblings O'Donnell and Tunney on a family climbing expedition which slips into fatal tragedy, leaving the pair with a potent legacy of guilt. Years later, chance brings them together on the slopes of K2, where he's taking wildlife photographs and she's now a top climber assisting entrepreneur Paxton's publicity-seeking assault on the summit. Inevitably, her expedition lands in trouble, and O'Donnell must lead the effort to dig them out of the ice. At times, this is undeniably nail-chewing stuff, but when it'snot unleashing avalanches or dangling disposable supporting players over snowy precipices, the movie's found decidedly wanting.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.