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From the Leni Riefenstahl epics of the 1930s to "The Eiger Sanction", film makers have always been drawn to the high-altitude drama of mountaineering. The latest director with a head for heights is Martin Campbell ("GoldenEye", "The Mask of Zorro"), whose thriller "Vertical Limit" involves a daring rescue attempt at 26,000 feet.
After a freak accident claims the life of their father, Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) and his sister Annie (Robin Tunney) drift apart. Peter abandons climbing and takes up wildlife photography, while Annie becomes an ace climber in her dad's image.
The siblings are reunited three years later at the foot of K2, just as Annie sets out to lead millionaire Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton) to the summit. Peter has misgivings, and his hunch is proved right when an avalanche seals Annie and her party in an icy tomb halfway up the mountain.
Armed with three canisters of highly volatile nitroglycerin, Peter - accompanied by taciturn mountain man Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn) and a ragtag team of volunteers - sets off to blast her free. Cue two hours of vertigo-inducing mayhem in the best traditions of "Cliffhanger" and "Where Eagles Dare".
New Zealand-born director Martin Campbell is a dab hand at action, and there are some tremendous set-pieces involving avalanches, helicopters, and explosives. But "Vertical Limit" fails to engage on a human level, and the blandly heroic Chris O'Donnell makes a lightweight leading man.
Thankfully, Bill Paxton and Scott Glenn are on hand to steal whatever acting honours are going with a brace of juicy characterisations.
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