User reviews

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.

Pan Deng Zhe or The Climbers is a Chinese action-adventure movie inspired by historic events. The movie explores how a group of Chinese mountaineers attempts to ascend Mount Everest from the perilous north side. The film exposes the intense relationships between the mountaineers and the challenges related to the expedition.

The movie has been shot on location in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The settings are therefore quite authentic and the landscapes are absolutely breathtaking. Lead actor Wu Jing conducted a cold tolerance training before the shooting and his dedication shows off in a convincing performance. The intense scenes on the mountain have been filmed with great care in form of emotional acting skills and impressive special effects.

The movie also has a few downsides. The numerous highly emotional relationships between the members of the expedition feel somewhat exaggerated and only distract from the already fascinating main plot and the stunning mountaineering scenes. As many other Chinese productions, this film has also an extremely strong patriotic side as it's constantly claimed that Mount Everest is a Chinese mountain that must be climed by Chinese mountaineers which has to be proven and shown to the entire world.

If you are willing to ignore the overtly emotional side stories and the strong propaganda, you will discover a good mountaineering film that should please fans of movies such as Vertical Limit. The settings and special effects alone are worth watching this movie as its high budget shows off quite impressively. To leave an even better mark, this movie should have had less dramatic side stories, less propaganda and more skilled actresses and actors.

"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.

Wait, there is another action movie about mountain climbing. Move over, Vertical limit. Although this movie was far to overdramatized I must admit it made the action scenes far more suspenseful and exciting. They were done well, not well enough to truly justify the IMAX ticket, but it still kept me on the edge of my seat so that's good. Plus, having Jackie Chan do a cameo is almost like an action film's seal of approval. It's a wining score for me

This was a decent mountaineering movie with thorough scientific and meteorological research to make it believable. And most of the events are based on actual people and events.

The movie has a beautiful blend of CGI and actual mountain scenery.

I love how they used actual Tibetan actors to add in the diversity and realism of the movie.

Wu Jing is believable as an experienced mountaineer. And as a action star himself, I am glad there were added Hollywood-esque type of action sequences that didn't felt off and was exciting to watch.

I like how they not call it Mount Everest, but the original Tibetan name, Qomolangma. As a sign of not whitewashing the history of the mountain.

As for criticism that the movie has a propaganda tone to it. You have to understand the movie is a period piece, and at that time many projects were ordered and endorsed by the central chinese government. So the nationalistic feel to the operation is somewhat realistic for the time and should be protrayed as such. Fun Fact: Xia Boyu who got both of its legs amputated as shown in the movie, actually did got to climbed the mount everest again for at lest 5 times with artifical limbs

Chinese mountaineering has been left under the radar and have not gotten enough exposure as it deserves over the years. With this movie they bring honor to those who have fallen conquering the mountain.

The protagonist Wang Fuzhou died in 2015 but left an impression as a chinese mountaineering pioneer.

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.

The biggest discomfort of the film is the split of emotions, the paleness of the narrative, the frivolous emotions, and the strong sense of disappointment after the high expectations are lost. Not good enough. For a film of such a size and level as "Climber", it means "bad" by itself.

After repeated reflection, the board should play on the play itself. From theme selection to character design to plot structure, and even logic, there are many problems.

"Climber" is undoubtedly the main theme, what to promote, what to sing, has already been set, and there is no need to create a team to work out.

Two abrupt loves further blur the theme. The seemingly rich emotional expression did not separate the primary and secondary, so that the motivation of the protagonist in the film has been swinging between national honor, adventure enthusiasm and love.

The most terrible thing is that the climax of the movie actually put the emotional outlet above "love". The final radio wave confession of Wu Jing and Zhang Ziyi completely diluted the sublimation of the summit. The grand propositions that had been accumulated before and after suddenly became a wood without roots In the end, one can only accumulate in the audience's heart, which is difficult to release.

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.

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.

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!!!!

... said Dora the Explorer.

And that's basically the most concise and non-spoilery summary of this movie. The premise of a group of climbers going on to conquer a mountain for the national prestige and the omitted question of the water rights between China and Nepal, in a difficult time for the former, seems quite straightforward and attractive to put onscreen. The trouble comes from the fact that the director can't direct anything except the "asadora"*(Morning Drama)-format Korean-style melodrama where the amount of drama must get over the top in the short 13 to 24 minutes runtime because otherwise the TV audiences will switch to something else or some other channel. In other words the movie is a jam-packed cheese cabinet, and at one time you're there furiously googling whether the character had the same fate in reality as compared to the movie, because the suspension of belief (not disbelief) is such that even the most elementary things start to appear doubtful.

My Chinese wife's final words: If, as he said, people complained before for not believing that the Chinese have climbed Everest/Chomolungma, then now they will believe even less, as it just makes everyone appear incompetent

Really 3/10 , saved by the CGI, and I'm guessing the actors like Jing Wu and Jingchun Wang will be ambivalent to having this one in their acting career later on.

Ice snow and water make up the livibg room in this one. Seen in buck trousers, santino lifts the bajupers out some weights set over his neck. Its the triangle trussed rope that keeps puling him from the neck and into an unwanted day in the city.

It thought it was pretty entertaining. Great story and well acted. The filmography was very realistic.

I thought it was a good movie. I do like these kind of movies. The lead star was like a superhero climber. He was too good. It had action drama, romance if you can call it that. The movie is subtitled and they speak Mandarin Chinese.

The movie is actually too good to be true. Jing Boran's is good-looking and good acting is increasingly .

I'm fine with the propaganda, it's blatant enough to ward off those who can't stand it.

However, the film still disappoints me. The romance is just too out of place during the whole story, and it weakens the courage and nationalistic pride that the film intended to convey. I felt thoroughly embarrassed during what was supposed to be the climax of the film. The characters are depicted badly, the music is tiring, and the plot is very predictable, but that's commonplace for most films I've seen of the same genre. Due to these, I found it hard to empathise with any of the characters. However, the performance of the actors is nice, the stirring of emotions is forced yet moving, so the film is somewhat enjoyable.