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Movies / On DVD / Vertical Limit
Vertical Limit

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Vertical Limit (2000)

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Reviews Counted:107

Fresh:50

Rotten:57

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: The plot in Vertical Limit is ludicrously contrived and cliched. Meanwhile, the action sequences are so over-the-top and piled one on top of another, they lessen the impact on the viewer.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] intense life/death situations and brief strong language

Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:Dec 8, 2000 Wide

Box Office: $67,771,442

Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]

Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn

Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn, Izabella Scorupco

Director: Martin Campbell

Director: Martin Campbell
Screenwriter: Robert King, Terry Hayes
Producer: Lloyd Phillips, Robert King, Martin Campbell
Studio: Columbia Pictures

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Release:

Feb 20, 2007

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Reviews for Vertical Limit

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81 - 100 (sorted by date)
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An entertaining but lengthy lesson in what happens when you have no limits at all.

comment Comment
12/08/00
Mary F. Pols
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times

The mountain-rescue movie Vertical Limit doesn't just operate at the height of ludicrousness; it also puts marshmallow Chris O'Donnell in the business of saving lives.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/08/00
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The visuals are stunning, but that's not enough. They can't make up for this predictable story populated by cardboard-cutout characters. The film needs more rescuing than that.

comment Comment
12/08/00
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all the pains that have been taken to plunk us vicariously alongside the frozen peril, Vertical Limit is mostly a joke that keeps getting unfunnier.

comment Comment
12/08/00
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the most thrilling - and authentic - mountain-climbing films in recent memory.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/08/00
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The picture cuts from story thread to story thread, and in such a choppy fashion that we're rarely given the vistas that would allow us to take in the physical layout of the action.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
12/08/00
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com

Made from obvious formulas and pulp novel conflicts, but strongly acted and well crafted.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/08/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The jolts come fast and furious.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
12/08/00
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

The colorless Peter and Annie and the preposterous Wick indulge in such wince-inducing, old-movie dialogue and ''tis a far, far better thing'-style emoting that the whole thing should be in black-and-white.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/08/00
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Camouflaged as drama, Vertical Limit is a theme park of cheap thrills. It attains a horizontal limit, flattening your mind and spirit.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
12/08/00
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

The film's many stunts are exciting, well-staged and cleverly shot to this layman's eyes, though climbers might nitpick the probabilities of some of the actions.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
12/08/00
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Lumbers from lardy exposition to climax overload.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/08/00
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A melodramatic, adventure-filled feast for the cerebral senses that, despite its lack of originality, manages to somewhat captivate the action enthusiast in all of us.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
12/08/00
Mack Bates
Mack Bates
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

If you lay aside that action and watch the people instead, it's a morass of dimwitted family crises and hack action-movie cliches.

comment Comment
12/08/00
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Vertical Limit kept testing my horizontal limit. Everytime anybody talked I started to fall asleep.

Full Review Source: Good Morning America | comment Comment
12/08/00
Joel Siegel
Joel Siegel
Good Morning America
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Too often finds itself on the slippery slope of playing to the lowest common denominator.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
12/07/00
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

The acting is passable, the dialogue is serviceable and occasionally clever, and darned if it's not an adrenaline-booster all the way around.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
12/07/00
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Possibly the most suspense-charged mountain-climbing movie ever made.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/07/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The air gets pretty thin at 24,000 feet ... Best I can figure, Robert King must have written his script for Vertical Limit at that altitude. It’s that stupid.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
12/07/00
Todd Anthony
Todd Anthony
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Icy mess.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
12/07/00
Philip Booth
Philip Booth
Orlando Weekly
 
 
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