K2 (1991)

Director:

Franc Roddam

Writers:

Patrick Meyers (play)
Patrick Meyers (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 May 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

Between the earth and the sky lies the sheer face of adventure.

Plot:

Taylor and Harold are good friends and avid climbers. While climbing one day, they meet a man who it seems might be attempting to climb K2...

Plot Keywords:

K2 | Climbing | Mountain | Bare Butt | Avalanche

Cast

Michael Biehn	...	Taylor Brooks
Matt Craven	...	Harold Jameson
Annie Grindlay	...	Lisa
Elena Wohl	...	Tracey (as Elena Stiteler)
Blu Mankuma	...	Man on Wheelchair
Charles Oberman	...	Tony
Julia Nickson-Soul	...	Cindy Jameson
Christopher M. Brown	...	Carl (as Christopher Brown)
Leslie Carlson	...	Dexter
David Cubitt	...	Peter
Luca Bercovici	...	Dallas Woolf
Edward Spat	...	Mike Spatt
Andrew Spat	...	Todd Spatt
Hiroshi Fujioka	...	Takane Shimuzu
Patricia Charbonneau	...	Jacki Metcalf

Also Known As:

K2: The Ultimate High

Runtime:

102 min | Canada:111 min | UK:111 min | USA:104 min

Country:

UK | Japan | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:K-8 | Germany:16 | South Korea:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Norway:10

Filming Locations:

British Columbia, Canada

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Trivia:

Among the actors considered for the part of Taylor Brooks was Al Pacino

Goofs:

Factual errors: After Harold has been injured on the descent, Taylor gives him an injection of adrenalin he found on Dallas' body. Adrenaline (ephinephrine) has no effect on reversing hypothermia or mitigating pain, as the scene implies. In fact, the drug would have constricted Harold's blood vessels and hastened his demise.

Quotes:

Harold: It's beautiful
Taylor Brooks: Course it's beautiful, did you think I'd take you to an ugly mountain?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Incident at Loch Ness (2004)

Soundtrack:

Descent

underrated

This movie delivers on its promise: the feeling of high adrenaline excitement. The personal lives of the characters are just fodder, but the climbing scenes are breathtaking! I also liked how the film showed the details of such an enormous undertaking, such as test-runs and problems with porters. Whoever said there were cliched aspects, come on! How many climbing movies have people seen before?

Back to the climbing scenes. The ones of the test-run mountain in the U.S. are great, with music that is truly original, and perfectly matches the visuals, giving you the feeling of being 'high'. But the scenes I like most are the ones of climbing the big mountain, especially when they break out the full ice climbing gear. It might make a difference that I've spent much time skiing in Vermont, which has somewhat of an extreme outdoors feel(moreso than Pennsylvania, anyway). I was reminded of some cool times, and felt like actually going out and learning to climb! Dont miss this one!