Pan deng zhe

He can fly through the air over a vast crevasse and save his entire climbing team from surefire icy death, he can save the damsel in distress by using his manly back to block a ten ton ice shard from falling on his beloved princess, he can run the 3 minute assault course in 2 min 30 secs - Yes Fang Wuzhou is the Chinese superman - Fang Wuzhou is the man!!!

Ok so the film is more fantastical in some respects than one would expect in the West but I think that adds to the enjoyment of the movie and makes it more fantasy and fun and reminiscent of the days of movies like Sinbad & The Eye Of The Tiger and other gloriously over the top fantasy movies. Yes it is of course political and patriotic but that seems to be the Chinese way and to be honest as long as the movie entertains I am not too bothered with that.

The acting to me seems well over the top but I am not Chinese so can only judge from a western viewpoint; I am sure the Chinese viewers think it is perfectly a cinematic normal for them. I did find the romance angle very well done and even had a tear in my eye at the end but then again I am a bit of a big Jessie when it comes to these things. It is very different from what westerners perceive as romance ie The Chinese seem to veer more to the "treat em mean, keep em keen" and that is probably more realistic than our view of romance to be fair but it did still have me in Big Girls Blouse mode lol. Poor old Fang Wuzhou I did feel for him in the end and if a movie can elicit some emotion from the viewer then it cannot be half bad!

Unlike the recent Scifi disasters from China I actually did quite enjoy this. The special effects and CGI are quite realistic and thrilling in a different way than Vertical Limit was; I still prefer Vertical Limit, Cliffhanger or Everest but it is a decent nights viewing and certainly does not deserve less than an average 5/10. It almost gets an extra star for the Chinese Superman Fang Wuzhou! Long live Fang Wuzhou!!!!

Over the limit even? No pun intended - it has been quite a while since I last saw that movie. But I do have it in really good memory and I am patiently waiting for a 4k release ... it'll happen eventually ... right? Please say yes - even if it's not true. And I mention this, because while many compare this to Cliffhanger, it reminds me more of that movie - I may be wrong ... we all may be wrong and you can't really compare it to either of those movies.

That all being said, this is playing in the mountains and it has quite a lot of snow in it. There is rush, there is excitement and there is suspense for sure. It does check of many boxes and it has quite decent cgi and effects overall (since it is newer than the other movies, probably way better effect wise than those two).

The story is coherent enough and if you let it, it will entertain you for all the right reasons. You may even recognize some actors in this - if you've seen Chinese movie before that is. It says exactly what it - sorry it does exactly what it says on the box (climbers) ... so is this what you want to see/watch? Don't blame the movie afterwards ... well shot as it is too.

I don't know where the low ratings come from. This movie had excitement,tension, action,romance,great cinematography and was well edited. If you enjoy movies like Vertical Limit and Everest then you will love this. I had to write this review because I did not see how the rating was so low and it should be seen.

"The Climbers" is an unashamedly nationalistic film. Indeed, I don't recall ever seeing so many flags in one feature.

Its focused on China's efforts to climb Mt Everest, conquering the North face. In terms of watch-ability its entertaining but hardly factual. A lot of the action is over the top, by any standards. That said, the cinematography is decent and the scenes, well choreographed.

In terms of story its once again, unsurprisingly, a patriotic affair. Lots of self sacrifice in the name of China's greater glory. Nothing too offensive but one I suspect, that was scripted predominantly with local audiences, in mind.

6/10.

Not a bad movie. Not great either. As a climber myself I took into consideration that in those days the gear was nowhere near as advanced and strong as the gear these days. Though on a couple of thigs I was laughing as the way the gear failure was portrayed was laughable. A good excuse for a bit of Kung Fu type gymnastics and action to be thrown in. The acting was wooden and we didn't really care about any particular character because they all blended into a mess of "Try your best to keep up". I think I fell asleep for 20 minutes but didn't miss anything when I rewound it. I give it a 5 because the action scenes were well done (though unbelievable). If it was a Hollywood film I'd give it 3 or 4.