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Vertical Limit

5.2

13,907

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Original title

Vertical Limit

Year

2000

Running time

126 min.

Country

United States

Director

Martin Campbell

Screenwriter

Robert King, Terry Hayes

Cast

Music

James Newton Howard

Cinematography

David Tattersall

Producer

Columbia Pictures

Genre

Adventure | Mountaing Climbing / Mountaineering. Nature. Survival Film. Cold Weather

Synopsis

An edge-of-your seat, emotionally-charged action-adventure story, VERTICAL LIMIT is a high-adrenaline tale of young climber Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell), who must launch a treacherous and extraordinary rescue effort up K2, the world's second highest peak. Confronting both his own limitations and the awesome power of nature's uncontrollable elements, Peter risks his life to save his sister, Annie (Robin Tunney), and her summit team (Bill Paxton and Nicholas Lea) in a race against time.

Years before, brother and sister were devastated by a horrific climbing accident. Peter made a split-second decision to cut their father's rope to save his sister and himself. In the aftermath, Peter isolated himself as a nature photographer; Annie chased her father's dream to climb the world's highest peaks.

Now, she is trapped in an icy grave at 26,000 feet - a death zone above the vertical limit of endurance where the human body cannot survive for long. Every second counts as Peter enlists the help of a crew of fellow climbers, including eccentric, reclusive mountain man Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), to ascend the chilling might of the world's most feared peak to save her.

Awards: 2000: Nominated for BAFTA Awards: Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects

2000: Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards: Best Visual Effects

2000: Satellite Awards: Nominated Best Visual Effects

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Critics' reviews

"Story and character development gets buried in an avalanche of illogical behavior and preposterous catastrophes"

Kirk Honeycutt: The Hollywood Reporter
"Possibly the most suspense-charged mountain-climbing movie ever made"

Desson Howe: The Washington Post
"Vertical Limit, despite its weaknesses, finds the right director in Martin Campbell to energize this high-altitude thriller."

Kenneth Turan: Los Angeles Times
"The action scenes in Vertical Limit take cliffhanging to the highest peaks of excitement. It's a shame the story keeps dragging us down to sea level."

Andy Seiler: USA Today
"One of the most thrilling - and authentic - mountain-climbing films in recent memory. Unfortunately, it's also burdened by one of those every-line-a-wretched-cliché Hollywood screenplays."

Jonathan Foreman: New York Post
"There is one reason, and only one, for anyone to check out Vertical Limit. The hanging-by-a-fingernail mountain-climbing sequences are spectacular."

David Ansen: Newsweek
"A shallow yet empty action extravaganza."

Elvis Mitchell: The New York Times
"The characters are as thin as the air at 26,000 feet, and the story as silly as anyone willing to assault K2 in a punishing blizzard."

Rita Kempley: The Washington Post

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Ranking Lists Position

80 My Top 10 Movies from 2000 (23)

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Vertical Limit

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