Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Vertical Limit Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Sir Terrence October 9, 2008

I have tremendous respect for mountain climbers. As a person who attempted (and failed) to climb Yosemite Falls, I can truly appreciate the strength and endurance it takes to participate in this kind of sport. However, as a person who is actually nervous about being in high places, I cringed through many parts of this movie, as time after time the main characters found themselves hanging by an anchor on the edge of a cliff. As much as I enjoyed this movie, I had problems with the relationship between the brother and sister characters. After what they had been through, why was there a rift between them? It would seem to me that their experience would have made them closer. There was nothing I would blame Peter for; he was following his father’s orders. It was plain to me, so why wasn’t it plain to her? Another thing I found puzzling is during the opening accident, why wasn’t the father severely injured? He sure should have been when the rope wrapped around his body. Another surprise for me as a person who has been in the snow at a much lower elevation is that on occasion the actors breathing is not labored, nor do you see their breath like you normally would in the cold at high altitudes.

Vertical Limit was not shot on K2, but at Monument Valley, Utah, The New Zealand Alps, and in Northern Pakistan. I am sure this cut costs tremendously, and allayed many a worry about the safety of the actors and crew. If it cost seventy five million dollars in production costs filming at these two locations, I would imagine it would be profoundly more if they went to K2. At the box office, Vertical Limit brought in sixty eight million dollars domestically, and two hundred and thirteen million, five hundred thousand dollars worldwide. Another interesting piece of trivia that was very controversial at the time involved a movie reviewer by the name of David Manning, who worked for the Ridgefield Press. He gave this movie and other Sony movies very high praise, but it turns out he was a fictitious character, who while he existed in real life, never reviewed a single Sony film.

Vertical Limit opens with a father and his two children Peter and Annie enjoying a mountain climbing excursion. Above them are a couple of amateur climbers who begin to have trouble, and suddenly fall from the side of the mountain. During their fall, the father becomes entangled in their climbing rope endangering all of the climbers on the side of the mountain. The struggling amateur climbers begin to flail about threatening to pull everyone off the mountain, but the father moves to dislodge himself from the rope sending the two amateur climbers to their death. The father asks Peter (Chris O’Donnell) to cut the rope to save Peter and his sister. Peter complies, and his father falls to his death.

Three years have past, Annie has become a world class climber, Peter a photographer for National Geographic. Peter finds out that Tom MacLaren and Annie are leading a climb up K2, and arranges a trip to see her. This is where he learns she will be leading Texas billionaire Elliot Vaughn up the mountain on a publicity campaign for his airline, Majestic Airlines. As they start up the mountain, bad weather sets in; creating an avalanche that traps everyone in the climbing party. Peter watches all of this happening, and is determined to rescue her.

Vertical Limit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sony's brings Vertical Limit to bluray in a terrific 1:85:1, 1080p/MPEG-2 encode that at points is truly eye popping. This encode starts off with a clean source print, free of any blemishes, dirt, pops or artifacts. There is some grain, but it is never objectionable, and only visible in wide vista shots with plenty of snow in it. Colors are eye popping, especially greens, reds and blues and the hues associated with these colors. Detail is excellent, flesh tones dead accurate, black levels deep and stable, and this title sports some of the most natural looking images I have seen in a while.

With all of the good points mentioned, I do have some minor quibbles. The blue screen effects shots look dated, and it was somewhat easy to tell they are blue screen shots, not to mention the softness that accompanied the look. You could really tell they were on a set with a backdrop. There was some minor print wavering and stability issues, but they were so quick, many might not notice. Contrast occasionally wavered even within a scene. Some of the CGI made shots soft, but since there weren't a lot of them, this might not be a problem for some. Overall this is a fine transfer, and at moments a great transfer.

Vertical Limit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio of Vertical Limit comes in three flavors, a 5.1, 16/48 kHz PCM track, a 5.1 Dolby Digital track at 448kbps, and a French language 5.1 Dolby Digital track at 448kbps. I picked the PCM track because it is by far sonically superior over the rest. As far as I am concerned the PCM soundtrack is demo material easy. In order to really get every last bit from this soundtrack you need to turn the volume up a little, and make sure you have a VERY quiet room. There is a lot of very low level information that will be missed that really adds to the atmosphere if you don't. Dialog is always clean and clear, but the choice to close mike the actors gives some of the actors a "chesty" quality. It doesn't affect intelligibility, but it makes their voices sound quite unnatural at times. On occasion the dialog does not blend with the ambience, which makes it sound detached, isolated and very ADR like. James Newton Howard film score is exceptionally well recorded (thanks to the expertise of Shawn Murphy) and is well blended with the sound effects. Instruments fill out the front sound stage not only laterally, but deep as well wrapping nicely into the surrounds. The high end is airy, well extended, and very sweet sounding. Instrument tonal textures and timbres are well captured, which shows excellent microphone placement. There are demo scenes that are sure to push your system to threatening levels. When Vaughn, MacLaren, and Annie Garrett are caught in a snow storm coming up the mountain, you are surrounded by blowing snow, wind, and the film score going full bore, and each clear as a bell. The avalanche scene will push your subwoofer over the edge (no pun intended), and will challenge your speakers ability to sort out the dense complexity of this mix. When the rescue team helicopters up the mountain, you feel like you are actually in the helicopter as you can hear blade wash coming from all around you with height information exhibited as well. When they arrive at the cliff that gets them up the mountain, the sheer level of sonic bombast is clean, clear, with music and effects layered nicely all around you. Nothing steps on anything else. Another great scene that has cool spatial effects is when the Pakistani army fires its guns at the Indian Army. The blast originates from the left surround, travels down the side wall, and ends up in the front left speaker. You could almost track its travel the effect is so precise. The LFE channel is used prominently in this mix, nicely complimenting the already high levels of bass coming from the front three channels, and surrounds on occasion. This mix uses the side and rear walls aggressively, making for a very transparent sounding immersive mix.

The soundtrack was originally mixed in 7.1 with five front speakers, left and right surround, and an EX encoded rear center channel. I got a chance to hear it in Sony's Cary Grant theater in its full glory, and it is nice to hear the 5.1 fold down seemingly not missing a thing spatially, or in power from the original 7.1 mix. I would recommend that any student of film sound listen to this soundtrack. It is an excellent example of how to mix a soundtrack without distracting the listener with unnecessary pans, and sonic clutter. At times it is front loaded as it should be. Remember, we are supposed to be watching the screen, not constantly looking to the side or behind us because a loud effect travels in those directions. Bob Beemer and Scott Millan deserve major kudos for their re-recording skills on this mix.

Vertical Limit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For a genre of movie not well explored over the years, it would seem that the producers and directors would have a lot to say about Vertical Limit. It does not appear that way though, as this disc is sparse in terms of extra content. You basically have the same extras ported over from the special edition DVD of this movie, and nothing else of value added to the pot. First up is a running commentary from director Martin Campbell and producer Lloyd Phillips. I found it boring and almost drone like, with spaces of silence as it does not seem like they have enough to say to cover the entire one hundred nineteen minutes of this film. I guess you only have so much to say about actors hanging over cliffs, or being on a soundstage with a blue screen backdrop behind you. Next up is the made for HBO feature, the twenty four minute First Look Special that takes us behind the scenes to the making of the film, crew and actor comments and funny moments. After viewing this, I have profound respect for how the actors prepared for their roles. Also included is Search and Rescue Tales which takes us through a series of six mini features(or segments whichever you prefer) "Avalanche!", "Easy as Falling Off a Cliff", "Peak Performers", "The Death Zone", "Vertigo Magic" and "The Elixir of Life." . This features storyboards, film clips, and some on set interviews. Filling out the disc are movie promos of Sony films, with all supplements presented in SD video only.

Vertical Limit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I personally enjoyed this movie alot. Although it had a fairly predictable storyline and a confusing interaction between brother and sister, it also had excellent action sequences, beautiful visuals, and a chest thumping butt kicking soundtrack to hold it all together. While there are not many extra's to fill out the packaging of this disc, I still recommend this as a must buy for those into, or curious about mountain climbing. Even if you are not interested in mountain climbing, this is near demo material for your hometheater. Sony did a fine job on this release.