dir. Martin Campbell
Opens Fri Dec 8 at Cinerama, Metro, others.
WE HAVE DEVELOPED a dysfunctional relationship with tragedy. While a situation may be in its own right very dreadful, through all the tears and the heartache, it's still never enough. We want higher body counts, sexier scandals: the more blood, the better the foul. The feeding of that desire for more is what makes Vertical Limit so great.
Throughout the two hours of ridiculous action sequences, our incessant need for more never fails to be met. Despite Hollywood's sad attempt to re-create a version of reality, Vertical Limit is actually a fantasy-filled fishing story blown entirely out of proportion. Not only does it star my eighth-grade object of desire, Chris O'Donnell, as good guy Peter Garrett (bonus point!), it also delivers tragedy after tragedy, and you don't feel bad about laughing at it. (Another bonus point!) You become trapped inside this product of a demented imagination, and soon, watching it becomes surprisingly fulfilling.
The situation? Three survivors are trapped after a disastrous attempt to climb K2. Fueled by a "reward" of a measly half a million dollars apiece, three teams of two climbers each, including Garrett, set out to save those who are now stranded and left to die. And just as your subconscious craves, the body counts do grow higher, the scandals do become sexier, and the obstacles do hit one right after another in unbelievable proportion.
One could easily liken Vertical Limit to a creation from the mind of a child. This film is like a 15-minute recess where the wood chips in the play area suddenly transform into shark-infested waters. And then, while taking refuge on the only safe place, the monkey bars, those too begin to melt into what's now bubbling, hot lava. There seems to be no way out, especially because those sharks (who now swim in lava) have learned to fly! And boy, do they fly fast!
It's a no-holds-barred world in the mind of a seven-year-old. And Martin Campbell, director of this embellished-beyond-embellishment Hollywood action flick, appears to be in fine tune with his inner child.
