Vertical Limit

Campbell knows how to make the best of vertiginous jeopardy, but second-rank stars and a contrived, over-plotted screenplay prove an insurmountable object to this amalgam of Cliffhanger and The Wages of Fear. There's an effective pre-credits attention grabber as we join siblings O'Donnell and Tunney on a family climbing expedition which slips into fatal tragedy, leaving the pair with a potent legacy of guilt. Years later, chance brings them together on the slopes of K2, where he's taking wildlife photographs and she's now a top climber assisting entrepreneur Paxton's publicity-seeking assault on the summit. Inevitably, her expedition lands in trouble, and O'Donnell must lead the effort to dig them out of the ice. At times, this is undeniably nail-chewing stuff, but when it'snot unleashing avalanches or dangling disposable supporting players over snowy precipices, the movie's found decidedly wanting.