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Vertical Limit
Columbia Pictures


5.1

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 17 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense life/death situations and brief strong language

Starring Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Nicholas Lea, Alexander Siddig, Scott Glenn, and Izabella Scorupco

Tale of young climber Peter Garrett (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' uncontrollable elements, Peter risks his life to save his sister, Annie (Tunney), and her summit team (Paxton and Lea) in a race against time. (Columbia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Adventure
WRITTEN BY:	Robert King (also story) Terry Hayes
DIRECTED BY:	Martin Campbell
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 22, 2001 Video: May 22, 2001 Theatrical: December 8, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	126 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Pulls off thrilling stunts that will leave you a sweaty-palmed mess. It's top-tier movie escapism.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

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

Baltimore Sun Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

OK, so some of the scenes are a sham, but the mountain of suspense and adventure is enough to keep you captivated.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Strong performances, particularly by Glenn as the hard-bitten climber with a private agenda, Vertical Limit delivers.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Vertical Limit is like riding a roller coaster for two hours. First it's frighteningly exciting. Then it's mind-numbing

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Vertical Limit, despite its weaknesses, finds the right director in Martin Campbell to energize this high-altitude thriller.

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

A shell of a film. It's a stripped-down and blown-out thriller than can only be measured by the sum of its action sequences.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

By laying on disasters with a trowel, misses the chance to sweep us up into a more elegant fantasy of primitive mountaintop terror.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

If you were forced to judge it simply on its action-movie visual and technical elements, you'd have to count it a roaring success... . But if you lay aside that action and watch the people instead, it's a morass of dimwitted family crises and hack action-movie cliches.

USA Today Andy Seiler

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.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

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.

Newsweek David Ansen

There is one reason, and only one, for anyone to check out Vertical Limit. The hanging-by-a-fingernail mountain-climbing sequences are spectacular.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Remains exciting as long as it stays on the mountains.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

The film is well shot and has titillating action without a single persuasive emotion.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Relentless parade of tragedy.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie has moments of breathtaking suspense, at least until it lapses into cartoonish implausibility in the second half. With good acting and good dialogue it might actually have been a good picture.

Film.com Sean Means

Vertical Limit has its share of intrigue, but there ain't no mountain high enough to make O'Donnell look deep.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A climbing thriller whose plot may be on thin ice but whose action sequences are stunning.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

A thriller that, at its best, has the gooney absurdity of an old Saturday-afternoon movie serial.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Vertical Limit represents another kind of propaganda--namely the current Hollywood notion that the bigger and louder and longer a movie is, the more people will want to see it, even if that means getting numbed before your popcorn's cold.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Vertical Limit's real problem is its digitized sheen. Every shot seems to have been CGI-enhanced, so the movie has an overpasteurized, Velveeta-like glow -- processed movie food.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Wants to be a dizzy, precarious thrill ride. Glenn provides the only gravity that doesn't seem dull, literal and earthbound.

Film.com Robert Horton

So wound up in its own bungee cords, it leaves itself hopelessly tied in knots.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Avalanches are nothing compared to the deadening touch of the stereotyping and audience-insulting simplicities in the scenic but brain-dead Vertical Limit.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

One of the most wearisome "high adrenaline" movies to come along in a while.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A shallow yet empty action extravaganza.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a huge, bloated, hulking movie.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

This asthma-inducing adventure set on K2 starts out seeming as if its corny storytelling and phony-looking settings were designed to show that it's as much about genre-movie conventions as anything else.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Travis Z. gave it a7:
It was good, regardless of what others may think. even though i dont think, it was stil good. well pretty good.

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Run of the mill entertainment. Some of the stunts were awesome, though.

Pat C. gave it a 0:
As a participant on many expeditions, including in the Himalayas, I can tell you that the people who made this steaming pile of plop knew absolutely nothing about mountain climbing. Furthermore, it is evident they went out of their way to cut out the tongues of anyone on the set who did. I don't know where to start - it's all bad. Not that people don't do plenty of interesting but stupid things on big mountains (see "Eiger Sanction"), but this is exactly what never occurs on mountains. Never. Hey Kostis, Battlefield Earth was better - it didn't pretend to be good.

Kostis T. gave it a 0:
Only once in my life i have walked out of the cinema in the middle of the movie. This.....film is the worst after battlefield earth.

Chip H. gave it an 8:
Good movie for those who love adventure, climbing and K2 - good acting or not.

Mike C. gave it a 9:
Action, Special Effects, Music, Characters, and Director: all excellent work.

Win I. gave it a 2:
Bad, bad script and acting. Action ok.

Vertical Limit Columbia Pictures

Vertical Limit
Columbia Pictures