While a number of comments admire the endless action of Vertical Limit, I found it tedious and, ultimately, boring.
The problem is the lack of both pacing and dramatic buildup. Each unbelievable new cliffhanger featuring these incompetent mountaineers is not much different from the last one. No cliffhanger contributes to the next one. It is just a string of unbelievable, disconnected "exciting" sequences.
Halfway through the movie, I would start laughing as a new cliffhanger developed. I waited to see how many ludicrous elements the director and writers could pile on (he's hanging from his ice axe over a cliff, the cornice is breaking; now the woman is hanging, and he's hanging off of her; now the nitro explodes; now an avalanche comes). But at the end of each sequence, someone is either saved or dead, and we move on as if nothing happened....
Great action directors know how to build excitement on top of excitement, with a rhythm. Each situation, while locally resolved, contributes to an even larger tension, until the audience is sitting at the edges of their seats.
Vertical Limit fails utterly to compound the tension of its action sequences. It ends up tedious and predictable.
The problem is the lack of both pacing and dramatic buildup. Each unbelievable new cliffhanger featuring these incompetent mountaineers is not much different from the last one. No cliffhanger contributes to the next one. It is just a string of unbelievable, disconnected "exciting" sequences.
Halfway through the movie, I would start laughing as a new cliffhanger developed. I waited to see how many ludicrous elements the director and writers could pile on (he's hanging from his ice axe over a cliff, the cornice is breaking; now the woman is hanging, and he's hanging off of her; now the nitro explodes; now an avalanche comes). But at the end of each sequence, someone is either saved or dead, and we move on as if nothing happened....
Great action directors know how to build excitement on top of excitement, with a rhythm. Each situation, while locally resolved, contributes to an even larger tension, until the audience is sitting at the edges of their seats.
Vertical Limit fails utterly to compound the tension of its action sequences. It ends up tedious and predictable.