Review of Vertical Limit (2000) by Manon M — 17 Oct 2011

Great mountain climbing film - well, a little over the top at times and some logical mistakes, but overall a very captivating thriller. Vertical Limit is well crafted and the acting is essentially good... if you only judge it by its visuals this film would be a straight success - tho not filmed in the Himalaya and at K2 (filmed in New Zealand at Mount Cook) it gives you the illusion of being in the Himalayan mountains, which is pretty stunning.

K2 is onviously one of the scaries mountains, next to Nanga Parbat obviously, but I missed its presence in the film... somehow I wished for more background. But overall, not bad. I can forgive a few flaws, but sending up someone who hadn't much mountaineering experience the last years without bottled oxygen on the second hightest mountain on Earth?!? You gotta be kidding me... way over the top, seriously. As far as I remember they were not that far from the summit so they were probably in the Death Zone... Nice explanation of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) tho... 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. But I would like to see more like this... maybe a really stylish version of Into Thin Air? :).