Vertical Limit

As Roger Ebert once said (possibly in the review of this very film), 'Hollywood never stopped making B-Movies, it just gave them a $60 Million budget' and of course he's right. Watching something like Vertical Limit makes you wonder why they bothered. No, tell a lie, it makes me wonder why anyone employs Chris O'Donnell as an actor since he shows neither charm, charisma, screen presence or any of the other useful qualities that make a top drawer leading man. Admittedly, Vertical Limit was a stunts and effects movie and on that, it scored admirably with a few thrilling - if depressingly contrived - sequences. Adding another big budget film to his big long list of big budget film scores is James Newton Howard with a solid, if unspectacular effort.

I knew that Vertical Limit wouldn't be anything that special - the film didn't look promising and had no edge to inspire Howard to do much above his typical action stich. Having read interviews with Howard, I actually realise how much more effort he makes than I ever thought possible on some of the expensive, but mediocre films for which he's supplied the music. Howard's fairly robust main theme makes its first appearance in Three Years Later and functions as a broad, vaguely Goldsmithian fanfare to the mountains that gave the splendid aerial montages just the right mixture of grandeur and slight impending doom.

I suppose Vertical Limit is more of a suspense action thriller than a pure action film and much of the time is spent tension building. Howard's music is somewhat more perfunctory in these sections than elsewhere, but just about keep the score afloat. There are, however, enough action cues for all the musical thrill seekers. Anyone who has Waterworld or Wyatt Earp will have a fair idea of what to expect, particularly in the percussion. Even so, Howard's technical bravura - while not as accomplished as say, Jerry Goldsmith - still keeps things galloping along whenever the momentum might have started to sag in the hands of another composer. Howard plays the heroic moments for all they're worth with a few licks that suggest his much more impressive Dinosaur, with percussion and choir thrown in just for good measure.

Definitely a score that can be easily filed under the category of 'get exactly what you expect' and nice for a rousing, no-brainer listen. The sound quality is good, the brass bristling in all the right places and the album just the right length to include all of the best bits from the film. Howard is definitely on something of a roll; he just needs to bear in mind all the dud films that Jerry Goldsmith has scored before he becomes too good at scoring bad films.