At the Movies: `Vertical Limit'

The cliffhanger is back. ``Vertical Limit'' may be a bit oxygen-deprived when it comes to character development, but it compensates with nail-biting, stomach-churning feats of death defiance on

Friday, December 8th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The cliffhanger is back. ``Vertical Limit'' may be a bit oxygen-deprived when it comes to character development, but it compensates with nail-biting, stomach-churning feats of death defiance on the slopes of the world's second-highest mountain.

Though there's a stretch or two of near inertia where the movie lumbers along like a stubborn pack mule, ``Vertical Limit'' delivers enough gripping action to make up for the slow spots.

Chris O'Donnell stars as Peter Garrett, a mountain climber who must make a terrible choice in the movie's opening scene to save himself and his sister, Annie (Robin Tunney), while scaling a rock-face with their father.

In the span of a few minutes, director Martin Campbell (``GoldenEye,'' ``The Mask of Zorro'') captures a really horrifying moment. Unfortunately, ``Vertical Limit'' then grounds itself for prolonged meanderings and musings as the action jumps ahead a few years and shifts to the snows of Pakistan, where Peter will have to mount a daring rescue.

After the incident with his father, Peter has shunned mountain climbing, instead studying wildlife for National Geographic. Peter conveniently is on a project within spitting distance of Annie, who is about to scale K2 with a team that includes wealthy adventurer Elliot Vaughn (Bill Paxton).

The movie takes an overly long breather to introduce its large cast of climbers. Foremost is Montgomery Wick (Scott Glenn), a wild-haired abominable snowman who spends his time alone on K2 looking for his dead wife, lost in an expedition years earlier.

There's the French-Canadian beauty Monique (Izabella Scorupco); Tom McLaren (Nicholas Lea), the levelheaded leader of Vaughn's climb; two wacky Australian brothers (Steve Le Marquand and Ben Mendelsohn); and Kareem (Alexander Siddig), the big-hearted Muslim porter.

Peter organizes the rescue after foul weather traps Annie, Tom and Vaughn high up in nosebleed altitudes.

The pulse quickens once ``Vertical Limit'' hits the hills again. To extricate the victims from a crevice, the rescuers cart along nitroglycerin, which they soon discover is not the ideal liquid to haul into avalanche country.

Split into three two-person teams, they dangle dizzyingly off cliffs, make a scarifying jump from a helicopter and get up-close and personal with monster snowslides.

There's tension in the ranks as Peter discovers a dark connection between Wick and Vaughn that calls into question the grizzled climber's motive for joining the rescue. And the self-preservation-minded Vaughn becomes positively Machiavellian about whether supplies should be ``wasted'' on the injured Tom.

Despite these little touches, the characters are mainly one-dimensional types whose yammer occupies time from one puppet-on-a-string stunt to the next. And the symmetry between the movie's climax and its harrowing opening scene is a bit much for credulity.

``Vertical Limit'' is a case where less explication would be more. By excising some of that mountainside chit-chat, Campbell could have created a tauter movie that keeps the focus where it belongs â€” namely, on its very effective cliffhangers.

When the characters just shut up and dangle, ``Vertical Limit'' becomes one heck of a wild time.

Released by Sony's Columbia Pictures, ``Vertical Limit'' runs 126 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense life-death situations and brief strong language.

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Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G â€” General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG â€” Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 â€” Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R â€” Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 â€” No one under 17 admitted.