Pan deng zhe

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.

"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.

The movie itself really shows strong determination of conquering not only the greatest odds of mountaineering on Everest but also the sacrifices that have to be made for the sake of achieving the ultimate goal for any mountaineer and so as for their country. This is where the movie shines by a lot. You'll it good flowing down your skin as you watch it.

Where the movie doesn't shine? It's too unrealistic to be honest. The CGI made the location look odd compared to Western's Everest movies. The visual at the Everest are totally lacking realism to be honest. And also they made it way too dramatic and kinda long too to be honest.

Nonetheless, it's still an okay movie to watch but I've seen better. Even so it's not bad nor best but rather mediocre movie that is still worth your spare time.

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.