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The Story
Chris O'Donnell stars as Peter Garrett in this
high-altitude, adrenaline-pumping mountain
climbing action thriller that puts the human spirit to the test. The
movie starts out with Peter scaling the walls of a Utah cliff with his
father and sister Annie (Robin Tunney). An unfortunate accident turns
what would have been a routine training climb into a fatal scenario. Under dire circumstances, their father instructs
Peter to
cut the rope from which he is hanging, so that the two can survive. Faced with the guilt of
his father's death, Peter gives up his climbing ambitions and pursues a
career in nature photography with National Geographic. Annie,
on the other hand, continues her pursuit of mountain climbing and becomes a top-notch female climber.
Their sibling relationship, however, isn't doing so good. Peter and
Annie have not spoken with each other since that fateful day in Utah.
As fate would have it, Peter and Annie run into each other years later at
the base camp of K2, a 28,250-foot summit in Pakistan. Peter longs to re-establish his sibling relationship with Annie, but she
can't bring herself to talk about their father's death. Annie is there to accompany billionaire Elliot Vaughn
(Bill Paxton) as part of a team that aims to conquer the summit of K2 in time to film a
promotional segment for the billionaire's Majestic Airline maiden
flight over the peak of K2. Peter intensely watches the weather
forecast and warns Annie about her team's aggressive climb schedule.
As you can expect, the billionaire's team rushes the climb to meet schedule,
but the harsh and unforgiving weather and the difficult terrain literally threatens the team
with an avalanche. Now, it is up to Peter to lead a team of volunteers
to save his sister and the remaining team members. Will the rescue team be able to reach
the stranded climbers before they develop pulmonary edema, a physiological effect of the "vertical limit"
where the human body literally begins to die from the extreme altitude?
As to be expected of most action films, the plot is a
little thin, like the air at
high altitude. But you're not watching action films for
the plot, are you? To make up, there are many
hair-raising action sequences that left me gasping
for breath. The special effects are generally pretty awesome and
looks quite real. I say generally, because the opening scene of
cliff-side Utah looks so fake. Fortunately, that was the only scene
where the special effects were less than realistic.
The Extras
Bonus material on this "Vertical Limit" Special
Edition DVD include:
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audio commentary by director Martin Campbell and
producer Lloyd Phillips
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"Surviving the Limit" HBO making-of special:
an insightful behind-the-scenes look of the production with cast and
crew interviews. The featurette shows and talks about the physical
challenges that the actors have to undergo to make this film. (24
minutes)
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Search and rescue tales: a collection of movie
production and real-world tales. I was pleasantly surprised to
find that some of these featurettes are in Dolby
Digital 5.1 surround sound.
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"Vertigo Magic": a blue-screen special
effects behind-the-scenes look at the production of some key action
sequences (5 minutes)
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"Trekking to K2": a real-world tale of
the hike up K2 (7 minutes)
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"As Easy as Falling Off a Cliff": a
documentary of the logistics of filming on location and training for
mountain climbing, with cast and crew interviews (5 minutes)
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"Avalanche!": real-world K2 climbers
talk about the fear and threat of avalanches (3 minutes)
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"The Death Zone": an explanation of the
"vertical limit"... an altitude between 23,000 to 24,000
where to human body literally begins to die due to the lack of
oxygen (3 minutes)
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"Peak Performers": the cast and crew
commends their real-world mountain climbing instructors, and a
first-hand explanation of why these real-world climbers do it (3
minutes)
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"The Elixir of Life": an explanation of pulmonary
edema (a build up of fluid in the lungs, caused by dehydration
and high altitude) and the "dex" drug (a steoriod that
helps with the swelling inside the brain) which is portrayed in the film as
a life-saving, last-resort drug (4 minutes)
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"Credits": credits for this featurette
production, shown with excerpts
of cast interviews (1 minute)
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National Geographic channel's "Quest for
K2": a documentary about real-world stories of conquering K2 (12
minutes)
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Filmographies for cast and crew
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Production notes (2 pages)
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Theatrical trailers for "Vertical Limit",
"Cliffhanger", "Charlie's
Angels", and "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
This Special Edition DVD definitely lives up to its name,
with a good set of entertaining and informative bonus material.
Video & Audio
The image quality of this anamorphic
widescreen DVD is excellent. The colors are accurate and
saturated, while shadow detail is very good. The video
transfer is simply top notch. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced and the surround channels are
aggressively used during many of the action scenes. The dialogue comes
across nicely and is crystal clear.
Conclusion
"Vertical Limit" is an entertaining action flick
packed with heart-stopping action sequences. Don't get too wrapped
around the plot though, as it's rather thin. And remember to pack
light, as this Special Edition DVD comes pretty loaded already.
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Visit the Vertical Limit web site and the Columbia TriStar Home
Entertainment web site.
Did you find this DVD movie review helpful? Let us
know your thoughts, send an e-mail to us at Feedback@TimeForDVD.com.
Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES
STR-V444ES A/V receiver, NHT 2.1 as left/right main speakers, NHT 1.1C center channel speaker, NHT
SuperZero as surround speakers, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable XP speaker
wires, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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United We Stand
