VERTICAL LIMIT
US, 2000, 125 minutes, Colour.
Chris O' Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn, Izabella Scorupco, Temuera Morrison, Stuart Wilson, Nicholas Lee, Robert Taylor, Roshan Seth, Ben Mendelsson, Robert Mammone.
Directed by Martin Campbell.
A warning: not for those who get vertigo! This is a big-budget stunt-filled action show (actually filmed in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island) that relies on thrills and death-defying challenges, selfishness and heroism, all larger than life. Chris O' Donnell, usually rather a stolid hero, has had to cut his father loose on disastrous climb and has not been forgiven by his sister, Robin Tunney. By chance they meet in Pakistan where she is photographing a climb by an unscrupulous tycoon, Bill Paxton. The main action is a rescue attempt, a race against time, that sometimes defies belief. It is all updated Saturday matinee stuff.
1. The popularity of mountain climbing, mountain rescue films? Exhilaration, endurance, danger?
2. The Arizona settings, New Zealand standing in for the Himalayas? The beauty of the mountains, the snow, ice, avalanches and blizzards? The musical score?
3. The title, altitude, endurance, human limits on the mountains? For climbers, for rescuers?
4. The prologue, Monument Valley, the Garrett family, their exhilaration in climbing, father, son and daughter, the accident, the decisions, the father wanting his son to cut the rope, the daughter saying no? The moral decision for the son, his cutting the rope, his father falling to his death? The aftermath with Peter becoming a photographer, with Annie joining an expedition in Pakistan?
5. Pakistan, the political situation, the Colonel, his comments about rich Americans coming to climb, the border dangers, his advice about the rescue, the dangers of the weather, Indian attacks? Firing the cannon?
6. Elliott Vaughn and his money, his previous attempts to climb K2, the death of Montgomery Wick's wife? His entourage, publicity, wanting to climb the mountain, yet promoting his air service? His character, domination? Genial surface, ruthless? His relationship with Monique? Her presence as a nurse? His relationship with Annie? The leader of his expedition? The meeting with Peter Garrett? His guides, his team? The ascent, the weather reports, his ignoring them, Tom wanting to go back down the mountain, the pressure from Vaughn? The blizzard, the group falling, people swept to their death? Tom, Vaughn and Annie in the crevasse? Their attempts to survive, the altitude Illness, Tom and his injuries, the small amount of medication, Vaughn and his decisions, telling Tom that he should die, Annie's reaction? Their survival, the radio contact? Vaughn smothering Tom? The movement and the hole in the crevasse, their climbing out? The dangers, the rescue by Peter, by Wick? Wick and Vaughn on the rope, the dangerous situation, Wick urging Peter to cut the rope again and the two falling to their death? Poetic justice for Vaughn, movie style?
7. Peter Garrett, the experience of climbing, his father, meeting his sister again, their conversation? The dangers, his photography? His decision to go to the rescue, the explosives, getting the team, discussions with Wick? The hazards of climbing, the climbing with Monique? Falls, avalanches? The contact with Annie, her telling him not to come? The arrival, the leap over the open gorge? Wick holding him? The final decision to cut them loose? His character, the relationship with Monique? Monique, her relationship with Vaughn, volunteering for the climb, wanting to get out, the bonds with Peter, the deaths, especially of the young Australians?
8. Montgomery Wick, the wild man of the mountain, his mourning his wife, his vengeance against Vaughn for his wife's death? Climbing the mountains, his prayer and meditation? Peter's plea for him to come, his decision for the rescue, taking command? The helicopter landing and its hazards? The three groups, the dangers? His finding his wife, the meditation, his saving Peter, the confrontation with Vaughn, his not killing him? Finally letting the rope be cut and Vaughn and himself go to their deaths, his prayer before dying?
9. Skip, his skill on the mountain, his being left at the bottom in order to coordinate the rescue? Frank Williams, the offer of the money? Tom and his leadership, pressurised by Vaughn, dying?
10. The two Australians, their wisecracks, their bonds, cheeky? Sounding as if they were not going, their climbing, the dangers, deaths?
11. The Pakistanis, their motivation for being there, on the mountain, participating in the rescue?
12. The combination of special effects, location photography, the dangers, the challenges? The basic human story in this environment?
