There's this shot in "Vertical Limit" that's an extreme close-up of Bill Paxton's face. You get to see, on the big screen, the wonders that are his teeth. It's pretty gross, folks. I don't know if Billy boy is chewing lotsa tobacco or what, but he's got a nasty grill.
So anyway, "Vertical Limit" was kinda bad. It sure looked pretty, though. Well, except for Bill Paxton's teeth, but other than that, it was really pretty. I went to see it because the trailer for it sold me. It was probably one of the best movie trailers I've ever seen. It's up there with "The Professional," "The Matrix," and "Armageddon." Unfortunately, when you see the movie, you have to deal with the other stuff that comes with it, like the bad dialogue, and other really stupid stuff. I'm gonna give you an example: A team of people are sitting in a helicopter to go on a very dangerous rescue mission. One of the guys starts lifting his legs, contorting his body, and lowering his head as low as he can get it. One of the other guys asks him what he's doing. The reply? "I'm kissing my ass good-bye." Hardy-har-har.
"Vertical Limit" stars Chris O'Donnell. That's right, the guy who played "Robin" in the two pathetic "Batman" movies directed by Joel Schumacher. Ugh. The first two "Batman" movies, especially the second, "Batman Returns," are great. They were the ones directed by Tim Burton. But the two after them were directed by Joel Schumacher, and they were awful. Anyway, yeah, I wouldn't have as much a problem with Chris O'Donnell if he wasn't in those two terrible "Batman" movies. Um, okay. Anyway, Robin Tunney is also in this movie. She's a great actress who really impressed me in "Niagara Niagara" (though the movie itself wasn't that great), and she had a big role in a shitty movie called "End of Days." I thought Chris O'Donnell and Robin Tunney were pretty good in this movie. Then there's Bill Paxton and his teeth. Well, Bill Paxton usually plays the same character, and this movie is no different. Nicholas Lea ("Alex Krycek" in "The X Files") was pretty good, as was Scott Glenn as the eccentric mountain climber guy. Then there's Izabella Scorupco, a woman who looks like an evil Charlize Theron. She was good. And sexy. The acting in this movie is fine. The problem isn't with the actors, it's with the writing.
Speaking of which, this movie was written by Robert King (wrote "Red Corner") and Terry Hayes (wrote "Payback" with Brian Helgeland, and helped write the second and third "Mad Max" movies). I never saw "Red Corner," but I saw the other ones listed, and I like those movies! I don't know what was up. I guess they're on a slump or something. The director was Martin Campbell ("The Mask of Zorro," "GoldenEye," and "No Escape"). He did a good job of making things look interesting, but not much else. Actually, he screwed up a couple of times where some scenes were more comical than they should have been because of badly selected shots.
"Vertical
Limit" was pretty blah. Good action scenes, it was good visually, and
it was well acted, but everything else was pretty bad. Just watch the trailer.
At least you won't have to deal with Bill Paxton's teeth.
Scale of 1-10: 5