[cascadetraverser]

Who has seen the movie?? I remember this story so well from the 90s and read Into Thin Air and The Climb at the time and was curious to see if they could pull it off as a movie. My wife and I went to the Cinerama in Seattle and saw it in 3D. Except for one minor climbing technique mistake, I was really impressed. The story got the cinematic treatment it deserved. 4 1/2 stars....

[cascadetraverser]

Hmmm....I read the books some time ago and they were not fresh in my mind when I watched yesterday. I also saw the Breshears documentary but not the 1998 movie. If you are looking at this thing in terms of wanting a perfect documentary like quality film with exact true to actual fact lines, I guess you will be disapointed. If you are put off by the fact it is a Hollywood movie with Hollywood stars you might not like it either....If you want a visceral and emotional experience that does justice to climbing in general, (I am not a Himalayan mountaineer but have trekked in Nepal) and resonates at a lot of levels, then go.

[Bernardo]

I don't know anything about the movie. Is it supposed to be a true story or is it fiction.

[Toni]

[tmatlack]

I didn't care for the movie. We all know how hard it is to transfer that feeling of mountain scale and perspective in photos and even in IMAX 3D I never "felt" the size and majesty of the Himalaya. Or at least for $17 per ticket I didn't feel enough of it. This complaint was echoed in several reviews too. Maybe no film can capture that magic. Also, by reading the books, you get much more of the dynamics of the commercial companies, inter-personal issues, and Sherpa personalities. The extended death scene of Rob Hall with the drifting snow, lethargy, and radio comms with his wife became too melodramatic and tedious. Way too Hollywood. The seattle times review said the audience would "feel the cold and be shivering.: Sorry. Not even close. There was no "willing suspension of disbelief." Question: Did Rob Hall turn around from his descent to help Doug, the Seattle postman, to the summit? I did not remember that from Krakauer's book. Question: In the movie, who was the other Kiwi(?) team over on Pumori? Is that fact-based? Tom

[cascadetraverser]

I guess I would have to re-read Into Thin Air and The Climb to see exactly how well the movie recapitulates the saga as told by Bookreev and Krakauer (it was after all, their perspectives as well). I saw Into the Void and agree it was a fantastic movie. My life is too busy to do so and therefore have to rely on my generally good memory which suggests the movie was a reasonably faithful portrayal of the events as they likely occurred. IMOP, the movie reasonably captures the immense power of nature at 25+ thousand feet, the humility of humanity in the face of such power, gives an accurate portrayal of the comradarie and difficulties in human interaction during such expeditions and most importantly chronicals the emotions, failures and triumphs of all those involved. I can`t help but think of seeing it as a postive experience and wish more people would go and give a pass on some of the more mediocre material so readily available in theaters these days....

[Bernardo]

Sounds like its worth a shot.

[GaliWalker]