Vertical Limit
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 8, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Pulls off thrilling stunts that will leave you a sweaty-palmed mess. It's top-tier movie escapism.
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Possibly the most suspense-charged mountain-climbing movie ever made. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Strong performances, particularly by Glenn as the hard-bitten climber with a private agenda, Vertical Limit delivers. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Vertical Limit is like riding a roller coaster for two hours. First it's frighteningly exciting. Then it's mind-numbing Read full review
75
Baltimore SunCheryl Lu-Lien Tan
OK, so some of the scenes are a sham, but the mountain of suspense and adventure is enough to keep you captivated. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Vertical Limit, despite its weaknesses, finds the right director in Martin Campbell to energize this high-altitude thriller. Read full review
69
Mr. ShowbizLarry Terenzi
A shell of a film. It's a stripped-down and blown-out thriller than can only be measured by the sum of its action sequences. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
By laying on disasters with a trowel, misses the chance to sweep us up into a more elegant fantasy of primitive mountaintop terror. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
If you were forced to judge it simply on its action-movie visual and technical elements, you'd have to count it a roaring success... . But if you lay aside that action and watch the people instead, it's a morass of dimwitted family crises and hack action-movie cliches. Read full review
63
USA TodayAndy Seiler
The action scenes in Vertical Limit take cliffhanging to the highest peaks of excitement. It's a shame the story keeps dragging us down to sea level. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
One of the most thrilling - and authentic - mountain-climbing films in recent memory. Unfortunately, it's also burdened by one of those every-line-a-wretched-cliché Hollywood screenplays. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
There is one reason, and only one, for anyone to check out Vertical Limit. The hanging-by-a-fingernail mountain-climbing sequences are spectacular. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Remains exciting as long as it stays on the mountains. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
The film is well shot and has titillating action without a single persuasive emotion. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece
Relentless parade of tragedy. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie has moments of breathtaking suspense, at least until it lapses into cartoonish implausibility in the second half. With good acting and good dialogue it might actually have been a good picture. Read full review
50
Film.comSean Means
Vertical Limit has its share of intrigue, but there ain't no mountain high enough to make O'Donnell look deep. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A climbing thriller whose plot may be on thin ice but whose action sequences are stunning. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Vertical Limit's real problem is its digitized sheen. Every shot seems to have been CGI-enhanced, so the movie has an overpasteurized, Velveeta-like glow -- processed movie food. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
Wants to be a dizzy, precarious thrill ride. Glenn provides the only gravity that doesn't seem dull, literal and earthbound. Read full review
40
Film.comRobert Horton
So wound up in its own bungee cords, it leaves itself hopelessly tied in knots. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Vertical Limit represents another kind of propaganda--namely the current Hollywood notion that the bigger and louder and longer a movie is, the more people will want to see it, even if that means getting numbed before your popcorn's cold. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
A thriller that, at its best, has the gooney absurdity of an old Saturday-afternoon movie serial. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Avalanches are nothing compared to the deadening touch of the stereotyping and audience-insulting simplicities in the scenic but brain-dead Vertical Limit. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
One of the most wearisome "high adrenaline" movies to come along in a while. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A shallow yet empty action extravaganza. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's a huge, bloated, hulking movie. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
This asthma-inducing adventure set on K2 starts out seeming as if its corny storytelling and phony-looking settings were designed to show that it's as much about genre-movie conventions as anything else. Read full review
20
Washington PostRita Kempley
The characters are as thin as the air at 26,000 feet, and the story as silly as anyone willing to assault K2 in a punishing blizzard. Read full review
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