The four members of the China Everest Climbing Commando confront the most difficult mount. The first four failures have cost them too much physical strength until the wind and snow stop the gap.
In 1960, the first Chinese climbers to summit Mount Everest, the first ever to do so from the North Ridge, the most challenging side of the mountain, did so in a trek where several people lost their lives and while they successfully accomplished their feat and reached the top, along the way, the one camera they had to document their expedition, got lost in an avalanche and in the ensuing years, the international community debunked their claims of reaching the summit because of a lack of photographic evidence and they became an embarrassment to China instead of the heroes they truly were. In 1975, China decided to assemble a new team of climbers to try and reach the summit once more but with a photographer in tow to document their journey. The three lone survivors of the 1960 excursion also returned but as they set out on their new quest, old wounds that never healed, resurface, causing a rift between the three men at a time when their team needs to be concentrated on the task at hand. With weather patterns changing hourly, halfway up the mountain, the men must make a decision, one that will either save the lives of their team or risk them all in order to prove, once more, that they are capable of reaching the top.
While a large portion of “The Climbers” was filmed on location in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, much of it was shot on a stage and, at times, it is glaringly obvious when we cut from an exterior shot to an interior one, so much so that it actually takes you out of the picture. Naturally, with a film of this scope, shooting on a stage means the filmmakers have complete control over the weather conditions and it also offers a level of safety for the cast and crew but trying to merge location scenes with interior ones should be seamless and here, sadly, the transitions are not good. The acting, for the most part, is fine but for a movie that deals with so much drama and emotion, I honestly expected a little more.
The film encompasses a ton of sub-plots that feel out of place and wholly unnecessary and the drama of some of those scenes is cringeworthy. The music that also accompanies them is just as bad as the emotions, or lack thereof, on full display. The filmmakers should have concentrated solely on the main story and while character development and story exposition are necessary for every movie, here, it fails to deliver on both counts. There are some occasional exciting setpieces but overall, “The Climbers” promises a great story but delivers inferior execution.
Now available on Blu-ray & Digital from Well Go USA Entertainment
