| | | Hold your breath.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, English, Subtitled, French, Dubbed & Subtitled
K2, a 28,250-foot mountain in Pakistan's Karakoram Range, is the setting for this adrenaline-pumping action-adventure. It's a race against time when a retired mountain climber (Chris O'Donnell) leads a rescue mission to save his estranged sister (Robin Tunney) and other members of her team who have become trapped on K2 after a deadly avalanche. Martin Campbell, the celebrated director of The Mask Of Zorro and Goldeneye, delivers high-voltage action and exhilarating suspense in a film that pits man against his own limitations and the awesome power of nature's uncontrollable elements.
"A hair raising high altitude adventure." Bill Diehl, ABC Radio
Editor's Note
As action director Martin Campbell's heart-pumping thriller VERTICAL LIMIT begins, an eagle glides gracefully over the stunningly filmed mesas of Utah. Its shadow falls on a vertical rock face being climbed by Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell), his father (Stuart Wilson), and his sister Annie (Robin Tunney). Suddenly a backpack hurtles by, followed rapidly by two climbers whose ropes tear the male Garretts from the rock face. The excruciatingly tense sequence ends in tragedy.After this stunning opening, the action switches to the Himalayas, where tycoon Elliott Vaughn (Bill Paxton) has financed an expedition that will take him to the summit of K2--the world's second highest mountain. Annie is one of Elliott's party. In the face of a threatening storm, Elliott recklessly insists the climb should continue. The storm duly arrives and decimates the expedition, leaving Elliott and Annie stranded. Peter leads a group of climbers--including the grizzled Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn) and a French-Canadian nurse (Izabella Scorupco)--in a rescue attempt.|Campbell, director of photography Derek Tattersall, many daring cameramen, mountain climbers, avalanche specialists, and special effects technicians, along with veteran editor Thom Noble, deliver a beautifully filmed mountaineering thriller with even more heart-stopping moments than JAWS.
| Features | Production Notes | | Scene Selection | | Theatrical Trailers | | Talent Files | | Interactive Menus | | Search And Rescue Tales | | National Geographic Channel's Quest For K2 | | Link To Website | | French Subtitles | | Martin Campbell And Lloyd Phillips Commentary | | HBO Making Of Special | | English 2-Channel Dolby Surround | | French Audio | | English Subtitles | | Digitally Mastered Audio And Anamorphic Video | | Widescreen Presentation | | English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Columbia Tri-Star |
| Release Date: 9/20/2005 |
| Running Time: 124 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2000 | | Catalog ID: 05066 | | UPC: 00043396050662 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
|
| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"The action scenes in VERTICAL LIMIT take cliffhanging to the highest peaks of excitement..." 12/08/2000 p.4EBox Office
"...The physical feats are inspiring, crowd-pleasing testaments to the stupendous extremes of human capabilities..." 01/01/2001 p.63 Entertainment Weekly
"...The best scenes give you a vicarious vertigo high..." 01/05/2001 p.51 Hollywood Reporter
"...The stunt work and David Tattersall's lensing catch moments of the adrenaline rush that is mountain climbing..." 11/29/2000 p.14-39 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Strongly acted and well crafted....VERTICAL LIMIT delivers with efficiency and craft..." 12/08/2000 p.43 Sight and Sound
"...Campbell's tale of Himalayan derring-do does exhibit a fearsome kinetic energy and a rounded grasp of characterisation..." 09/01/2001 p.62 Uncut
"[T]he avalanches and stunts are watchable..." 08/01/2001 p.144 Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
The blend of stunt work and effects is seamless, and there's a real suspense as they edge out of tight spots... Vertical Limit delivers with efficiency and craft, and there are times, when the characters are dangling over a drop of a mile, when we don't even mind how it's manipulating us. - Roger Ebert
|
| |
|
|
|
