K2 - Das letzte Abenteuer

I remember first seeing this movie when I was eleven or twelve. Then I saw 'Vertical Limit' a few months later and contrary to what I thought would be the case, I enjoyed K2 ten fold more than Martin's Campbell's weak adventure story on the same mountain. Contrary to what many people think, Everest may be the tallest mountain, but K2 is a far more difficult climb.

This film follows two young climbers, Taylor And Harold as they take on the mountain and succeed in reaching the highest peak, because of friendship and the hard team work which comes from loyalty to each other. The picture chooses to focus on characters and emotion, rather than edge of seat adventure. It is the right approach, but as a side effect, the story sometimes plods a little. As a lead role, Michael Biehn is surprisingly good. Typically a supporting actor, I find that many of his performances are a little weak, but not here. He does what is necessary to make a convincing character, far better than Chris O'Donnell in 'Vertical Limit'.

Free from clichés and artificial drama, K2 is a competent and touching movie, maybe not brilliant, but it lifts you.

It stars two men , a womanizer advocate at law , Michael Biehn , and the other an upright scientist , Matt Craven , who is happily married to Julia Nickson Soul . They tackle the climbing the world's second largest mountain, the K2 in Kashmir , northern Pakistan . They join a brave group formed by the wealthy millionaire Raymond J Barry , Patricia Charbonneau , Luca Bercovici , Fujioka , among others . All of them set out to scale a famous and risked mountain . The trip to scale the second highest peak involves a long palaver among them , and much parley between persons of different cultures or level of sophistication . As the climbers argue with porters , challenges from old rivals and beyond the cliche dialogue .

Nice film with snowbound , spectacular scenes , thrills , emotion , rope and and piton daredevil drivel; and , of course , fight for life . Beautiful Canadian scenary fails to totally compensate for a great number of slow-moving scenes . Each person's true nature is revealed as they scale the peak , which many climbers have defied and failed in previous attempts .The main issue results to be the several dangers in which the cllmbers encounter along the way , including an ascent of sheer rock face , an avalanche and a fall down perpendicular mountain ice . Duo protagonist gives good acting delivering philosophical debating , such as Michael Biehn as the skirt-chasing lawyer and his old friend Matt Craven as the responsible physicist.The film is pretty well ; however, slightly overwrought ,with several dreary lapses , but exciting and stirring .This one belongs to Climbling Subgenre with important films as " The White Tower" with Glenn Ford , Claude Rains , " The Eiger sanction" with Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy and recently "Himalaya" with Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright , Jake Gyllenhaal , Sam Worthington and Kiera Knightley.

It contains a sensitive as well as thrilling musical score by the prolific Hans Zimmer performed by synthesizer . Impressive photography by Gabriel Beristain who does wonders shooting the moutain outdoors , showing impressive landscapes and breathtaking mountains . Set in Pakistan , it was actually shot on location in Canada's Mount Waddington, British Columbia. The motion picture was well directed by Frank Roddan whose intention is made clear early on : climbing as metaphor , being based on a play .Roddan has directed a number of decent movies of all kinds of genres and adaptation based on novels , as Cinema as TV , such as : Cleopatra, Moby Dick , War Party, Aria , The bride, The lord of Discipline and his greatest success was Quadrophenia .

I have been waiting ages for this film and now, finally, it is out on DVD in the UK. This film did not disappoint me one bit and kept me thoroughly entertained. I was a big fan of Vertical Limit when it hit the cinemas but there can be no comparisons made. Where Vertical Limit aimed more for suspense and thrills, K2 follows character development and realism.

Taylor Brooks (Michael Biehn) and Harold Jameson (Matt Craven) are best friends who live almost opposite lives but share one common passion, mountain climbing. Brooks is a selfish jerk who has only ever thought about himself where as Jameson is a man driven by his family and his job who cares greatly for the safety of others. These two are perfectly cast without even acting. Biehn's voice is perfect for an arrogant character and Craven's nerdish looks personify a man in the science profession. Biehn does well in this performance to disguise his fear of heights and delivers a very strong, charming performance. He portrays Brooks' obsession with K2 very well and was definitely the right choice to lead this film.

The scenery for this film is simply breath taking, beautiful snowy mountains with a caressing mist. There was one scene where I thought my TV had broken because the screen appeared to be pure white, but then a person enters the shot and the camera starts to pan out, I realise how clean and untouched the snow is. Filming a feature like this is always challenging on crew and cast, equipment and supplies can be buried under 5 feet of snow when the day's up. Everyone rose to challenge and produced a visually stunning film. The climbing sequences allow appear very professional and without doubt help Roddam to build up tension on a bigger scale.

What is best about this film is that behind all the scenery, the suspense and the arguments, there is a very strong message about friendship. It was important for this film to have a positive element because there are so many mishaps and so many dislikeable characters that a lack of positive energy in any form would have made K2 far too bleak. The friendship between Taylor and Harold drives the story and leads to a wonderful transformation within Taylor that is very believable. Character development in this style has sadly been abandoned by Hollywood now in favour of special effects and period pieces.

Very underrated, K2 is definitely the best mountain climbing film I have seen and as a huge Michael Biehn fan, it is great to see him perform so well in a non action role. With the beautiful snowy mountains and great character story, K2 is blissful to watch and leaves you feeling good after watching.

While practising a rapid ascent of a local vertical face, lawyer Brooks and physicist friend Jameson meets a part of climbers who appear to be planning for something bigger. Tragedy brings them together with the leader of the group – legendary climber Phillip Claiborne. Brooks talks his way onto the team – a team that is heading to the top of K2, one of the deadliest ascents in the world.

Having read some of the reviews for this film before watching it, they seemed to be mostly from those who embraced it as a "real" climbing movie and those that dismissed it for being unrealistic. I'm not suggesting my point of view has more validity (it doesn't) but I tried to watch it as someone who struggles to climb a ladder up a stack far less a mountain, so probably wouldn't be bothered if it was or wasn't an accurate portrayal of doing it for real. Well, I say that but I must admit that even with my limited knowledge of the subject, I'm not sure if some of the heroics seen here could really be done. Despite this the film is technically very impressive with really well directed action and some great shots. It looks the business if only the material had been there to back it up.

Instead the material feels a lot less genuine and it jars with the convincing surroundings. Here everyone gets a speech and the story is always a bit too melodramatic and chickens out of the impacting stuff too often. The cast work the best they can with it but they don't convince as to their surroundings when they have to speak, not that some of the narrative devices or convenient twists help them either. Biehn plays it cocksure and arrogant but forgets to leave a crack of a real person in there; so he is loud but when his true self comes it is unconvincing and not connected to anything we have seen in him at all. Craven is good though because his softer character does sit with being the unappreciated friend. Bercovici, Charbonneau and Barry are part of a solid enough supporting cast who do what the material requires.

Not a great film then but one that is technically impressive and easy to watch. The simple characters and overly melodramatic script and unconvincing dialogue really limit it but it is still serviceable for what it is.

If you have seen "Cliffhanger" and "Vertical Limit" and thought they were good mountaineering movies, "K2" might probably surprise you! As the first two are action movies based at high altitude (probably due to the lack of a decent story!), "K2" is actually a movie about mountaineering. Having read about mountaineering, done it myself and seen "Everest - the IMax movie", the realism in "K2" is astounding!

The actors are doing an impressive job on the mountains, their gear is correct, their reaction to altitude is 98% real and their pace is realistic as well.

If you are looking for "Cliffhanger 2" or "Vertical Limit 2", this is not the movie to go for. But... If you are looking for a catching mountaineering movie with breathtaking scenery and an OK storyline - go and buy "K2". It has FINALLY been released on DVD - at least in Europe.