K2 - L'ultima sfida

Adrenaline junkies best friends experience climbing dangerously together a bit into the film, meet some people and get offered to go up K2 which they've wanted to do for a very long time. Phenomenal movie with incredible cinematography, soundtrack and acting! Micheal Beighn and Matt Craven are awesome together along with the supporting cast. Underrated wild one that isn't talked about enough!

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.

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 .

The attorney Taylor Brooks (Michael Biehn) and the professor and family man Harold "H" Jameson (Matt Craven) are best friends and climbers. Harold is married with Cindy (Julia Nickson-Soul) and they have a baby son, and Taylor is a selfish womanizer. One day, they save the life of the famous climber Phillip Claiborne (Raymond J. Barry) and most of his team after an avalanche during a climbing. On the funeral of the two climbers that had died, Taylor asks Claiborne to take Harold and him to complete his team on his next expedition, when Claiborne expects to climb the K2, the second highest mountain on Earth. Soon they travel to Pakistan and they have trouble first when the porters unexpectedly decide to return and then when Claiborne becomes sick with the altitude. Claiborne calls of the climbing, but Taylor and Harold are decided to reach the top of the world at any cost.

"K2" is an underrated dramatic adventure and a tale of perseverance and friendship with impressive landscapes. The cinematography and camera work of this movie are breathtaking and would suffice to make worthwhile watching it. But the story is also beautiful and the fight of Taylor to rescue his only friend is heartbreaking. The soundtrack is also wonderful and is not credited in the movie. The first time I saw this movie was on VHS and today I have just seen it again on DVD. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "K2 – A Montanha da Morte" ("K2 – The Death Mountain")