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Vertical Limit: (James Newton Howard) In the range
of underachieving mountain climbing films of the modern age, 2000's
Vertical Limit strays far closer to
Cliffhanger than
K2, plagued by ridiculous plot contrivances that remind us that
man is the ultimate challenge, not the mountain. The story involves an
elaborate rescue on the world's second highest peak, K2 on the
China/Pakistan border, and within the primary group of climbers and
their would-be saviors, there is tension, romance, betrayal, and plenty
of sudden death. Director Martin Campell followed
Goldeneye and
The Mask of Zorro with this largely forgotten picture, though
Vertical Limit did turn a nice worldwide profit for Columbia due
to the promise of spectacular visuals, unlikely explosions, and a decent
cast of recognizable B-rate stars. Unfortunately, the film doesn't
fulfill any of those promises, the visuals extremely disappointing
(unrealistic sets and lack of the characters' breath showing in the air
was a fatal error), the explosions ridiculous and unnecessary (unless
you like seeing most of the cast killed in the narrative), and the
acting miserable (with the understandable exception of Scott Glenn).
Martin has collaborated with a wide variety of notable composers over
his career, utilizing the services of James Newton Howard for
Vertical Limit. With the assistance of
Dinosaur and
Unbreakable,
Vertical Limit contributed to a superior year
of development for Howard, who was at the tail end of transitioning from
a reliable second-tier Hollywood composer into a popular blockbuster
commodity. His output for
Vertical Limit was largely symbolic of
his music at the time: sweeping orchestral majesty aided by subtle
choral and specialty accents, as well as varied percussion that always
seemed to keep these scores moving and engaging your interest. There's
nothing complicated in Howard's writing for this assignment. It follows
predictable paths in terms of addressing the grand vistas and the
associated larger-than-life aspect of the treacherous rescue. All
mountain climbing films deserve bloated, memorable symphonic themes
(enhanced by the wet ambience of added reverb into the mix), much like
any good IMAX or documentary presentation of nature photography. Howard
provides that sound for
Vertical Limit and pretty much leaves it
there, choosing not to delve too deeply into notable substance for the
stereotypical character interactions in the story.
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The most interesting aspect of the score for
Vertical Limit, and perhaps its enduring legacy, is its bizarre
transformation mid-stream. It's a score of two distinct halves, the
first enjoying extremely engaging, technically impressive Howard cues of
robust structure and interesting orchestrations. The second half loses
all of the momentum and character previously established, seemingly
content to explore generic tension and action motifs while only tepidly
developing further the score's two main themes. On album, this divide
comes at the exact halfway point, and anyone in love with the score
after listening to the first seven tracks on that presentation will be
left wondering what the heck happened in the second act. At the start,
Howard successfully conveys the mystique of K2 and a sense of adventure
appropriate for a tale of this magnitude, his themes swelling with
phenomenal resonance. By the resolution cues, only faint hints of this
gravity are to be heard, despite the fact that the majority of the
characters are being killed and a striking reunion and escape are
successfully engineered by the leads. The early cues still make up for a
potentially disappointing whole, however, with "Three Years Later"
setting up the expeditions with the propulsive energy and harmonic
enthusiasm of
Dinosaur's best parts. Occasional choral backing,
including one or two contributions of solo ethnic voice (a la
Hidalgo), is joined by a combination of regionally specific
woodwinds (a la Hans Zimmer's replacement score for
K2) and a
wailing whistle or some other high woodwind that soars over the ensemble
in the same way that James Horner's shakuhachi flute is applied as an
accent. The primary theme, strong in stature and its performance on
horns, is previewed in "Utah" before dominating "Three Years Later" and
subsequent vista shots. An even larger, somewhat romantic theme is
afforded to the rescue team, bursting with melodramatic beauty in "You
Wanna Do This?" The combination of "Three Years Later," "Base Camp," and
"You Wanna Do This?" yields over ten minutes of outstanding melodic
statements only briefly revisited in the remainder of the score. Some of
the rowdy action sequences, led by "Spindrift" and "Avalanche," feature
brass and snare figures that may remind some collectors of Jerry
Goldsmith. The music from the second half of the album isn't offensive;
in fact, the solemn woodwind passages over pleasant strings in "Annie
and Peter" and "It's a Good Song" are solid 3-star moments despite their
relative anonymity. The album is therefore an easy recommendation, with
an opening half guaranteed to remind you of the best melodic moments in
Howard's career.
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| Bias Check: | For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.31 (in 53 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 58,041 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
