K2 (1991)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

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:

The New York production of "K2" opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in New York on March 30, 1983 and ran for 85 performances. Patrick Meyers wrote both the stage play and the screen play for this movie version.

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:

Taylor Brooks: I didn't make the world the way it is, Harold. I'm just trying to get through it, as fast and as clean as possible.
Harold: [after staring straight at him for 5 seconds] We ALL make the world the way it is.
Taylor Brooks: Yeah, well, we know who made this.
[Taylor tosses his unfinished bowl of oatmeal into the pot and exits the tent]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Incident at Loch Ness (2004)

Soundtrack:

Ascent

Cudda been a good movie

But, of course, it wasn't. Makes the climbing of the world's 2nd highest mountain look like a real tough day hike. Cast is okay, soap opera dialogue and plot-by-the-numbers is bearable, sometimes the scenery is outstanding, but where's the technical advice? I guess an accurate depiction of an 8000+ meter climb would be a little too tedious for Hollywood. Would be merely inoffensive if they hadn't trivialized the climbing of a mountain that has claimed so many lives.