Vertical Limit is the film for all those mountain-climbing aficionados who devoured Jon Krakauer's and similar books. It attempts to translate man-against-the-mountain adventure into compelling, albeit fictional, drama. But while the climbing action is pretty darn breathtaking, somebody forgot to put the brakes on the cliché machine while penning the screenplay. Two siblings (Chris O'Donnell and Robin Tunney) are mentally scarred by a climbing accident in which their father died to save them. She becomes a famous mountain climber; he never climbs again. On one of her climbs an avalanche leaves her stranded and only her determined brother can bring her back, along with a ragtag team of rescuers. It's easy to pick out the rest of the story from here, but Vertical Limit is less about the hackneyed plot than it is about putting its characters into increasingly dangerous situations and hanging them precariously over various mountainsides. It's a credit to director Martin Campbell (GoldenEye) that the impressive action keeps the film moving along past the bordering-on-absurd plot twists. O'Donnell tosses his mane of fluffy hair admirably, but it's still disheartening to see this once-promising actor turning into a pretty-boy stand-in; only Glenn manages to overcome his character's predictability. Mountaineering enthusiasts will recognise a cameo by world-renowned climber Ed Viesturs, who as an actor proves that he's... a very good mountain climber. --Mark Englehart,