Recensioni di Metacritic

Whether you care about climbing or not, you’ll appreciate this tale of passion, discipline and, ultimately, transcendence. One incredible climb for one athlete, one quantum leap for mankind.

To watch Honnold think through each ledge of his climbs can stop the heart; to watch him navigate human emotion might melt it.

Beyond that interesting character profile, Free Solo also operates as a sort of meta criticism of this kind of documentary filmmaking. We see Chin and his crew, most of them friends or at least affectionate admirers of Honnold’s, grapple with the difficult realities—and the potential trauma—of what they’re doing.

An awesome and inspiring doc from the team behind Meru.

There’s no denying that the domestic scenes of Free Solo are more powerful because you appreciate the madness of what Honnold is trying to do, and the climbing scenes are more powerful because you appreciate the full extent of what he’s risking to do it.

The set-up in Free Solo can sometimes be repetitive, as the filmmakers continuously fawn over their subject’s accomplishments in the nerve-racking build-up to the main event. However, the absorbing lure of the movie, the climactic, terror-provoking Yosemite climb itself, is overwhelming and worth the wait.

This is in many ways a white-knuckle brand extension for Honnold above all else. Still, the film frequently treads into knotty territory.

As it stands, however, Free Solo still has plenty to offer in the edge-of-your-seat department.

For those who love the thrill of high-adrenaline adventure docs, National Geographic’s Free Solo will be a hard experience to top.

Free Solo goes some way to explaining just why someone would want to do such a thing, but is ultimately more captivated by the vicarious thrill of watching Honnold do his thing.