Viewing 38 posts - 1 through 38 (of 38 total)
  • Everest – the film
  • rascal
    Free Member

    Anyone going to see it?

    Based on the book ‘Into Thin Air’ which is an amazing read, given the catastrophic events that happened.
    Looking at the trailer I cant help feel it will be spoilt and given the usual Hollywood treatment.
    It looks very much like K2 from years ago.

    Think I’ll give it a whirl though.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I read into thin air, watched the imax and the other book around it. Very moving stuff.
    The film about k2 The Summit was very similar. Not sure if being a mountaineer makes it more poignant.

    scuttler
    Full Member

    So long as someone who’s about to be hit by an avalanche hurls themselves from a collapsing cornice over a bottomless crevasse and sticks it to the other side with just one axe I’ll be happy.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    So long as someone who’s about to be hit by an avalanche hurls themselves from a collapsing cornice over a bottomless crevasse and sticks it to the other side with just one axe I’ll be happy.

    I’m sure someone will haul their buddy out of that crevasse with one arm too.

    My prediction is it will be crap. No “Touching the Void” I suspect.

    ti_pin_man
    Free Member

    I will defo go and see this as the Thin Air book is quite a brilliant read BUT everybody who has read that book needs / must read the Boukreev book. I hope Hollywood did and balanced the story so it has more facts. I suspect it will be a creative interpretation, sadly.

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    I’m pretty sure I was warned that the plot was only ‘loosely’ based on the events in ‘Into Thin Air’ i.e. lots of ‘interpretation’…

    I would have been interested to see if Hollywood would portray Boukreev fairly or give in to temptation and portray him as the sullen Russian villain…

    Edit: ti_pin_man beat me to it!

    rascal
    Free Member

    Best mountaineering film I’ve seen was ‘The North Face’ – out around 5 years ago about the Eiger failed ascent. Bloody excellent and the subtitles actually gave it even more authenticity.
    This will be no ‘The North Face’.

    duckman
    Full Member

    Aye,there was a fair old hatchet job done on Anthony Boukreev by Jon Krakauer in various interviews after the disaster.
    Who Doug Brasheers claims refused to help him when he was snowblind as he “Wasn’t a guide.” I won’t be going to see it as the telephone conversation and the margin by which he died(had got to oxygen, etc)are a wee bit grim and I think they deserve better than being Hollywooded.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    I agree re. Boukreev. His book “The Climb” definitely needs to be read alongside Into Thin Air for balance. I suspect he will be the baddie in this Hollywood blockbuster.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I’m sure someone will haul their buddy out of that crevasse with one arm too.

    As long as they’re only wearing a thin wool jumper taken from a museum at the time, then yes, I’ll go and see it.

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    Stallone would do it in his vest

    IanMunro
    Free Member

    Won’t be as good as the Eiger Sanction.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    You know it will be crap compared to the book and IMAX. No. I won’t be going.

    pondo
    Full Member

    I think the difference between Into Thin Air and The Climb is that Krakauer wrote an honest account of what he saw during the events (pretty sure there’s an apology in there somewhere because he said directly afterwards he was convinced he’d seen a person in one place when it later transpired it could only have been someone else (and even told relatives of a climber he’d seen their lost person somewhere they weren’t), hypoxia and exhaustion accounting for the confusion), whereas The Climb felt written as a direct response to and as a criticism of ITA.

    thegreatape
    Free Member

    That’s exactly what it was.

    And fair enough in my opinion.

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    Two great books I recon. The original film about it was DREADFUL. This one can’t be any worse.

    beanum
    Full Member

    There was a Joe Simpson book (Dark Shadows Falling??) where he referenced and summarised the events explained by Krakauer but gave Boukreev due credit..

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    The original film about it was DREADFUL.

    The IMAX Documentary? As far as I recall it was meant as an IMAX experience film that ended up becoming a documentary as they ended up being the the middle of an unfolding tragedy and then they abandoned filming and ended it with photo’s they took, very raw I thought having read the books around it (Into thin air/Dark shadows and the climb)

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    No there was a dramatisation of Into Thin Air. It was cheesy tacky rubbish. Not seen the iMax film.

    http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0118949/

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    ah not seen that, from memory the IMAX is worth watching. Part of the thing up there is it’s mostly recollection etc. There are many sides to all stories and the fact there is 4 versions of this one helps a lot.

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    Anyone see the episode of ‘The Good Wife’ where Eddie Izzard was a lawyer defending Jon Krakauer? Very surreal… 😕

    bigG
    Free Member

    I expect it’ll be pretty crap like the majority of climbing related films are (with a few notable exceptions mentioned already). I’ll wait for it to appear on Sky and I’ll sit in the comfort of my own sofa with a cuppa and a crumpet to laugh at it.

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    I know it’s not exactly the best barometer of quality but it’s got a pretty good cast. So I’m hopeful it will be at least watchable if not Oscar winning stuff.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    There was a Joe Simpson book (Dark Shadows Falling??) where he referenced and summarised the events explained by Krakauer but gave Boukreev due credit..

    Typically Joe Simpson, pronouncing judgement on an event he wasn’t at, had no first hand experience of and probably didn’t even bother talking to anyone who did have!

    He wrote one good book about his accident and then decided he was judge and jury on every mountaineering accident ever and churned out a lot of judgemental drivel spanning several books….

    oomidamon
    Full Member

    pronouncing judgement on an event he wasn’t at, had no first hand experience of and probably didn’t even bother talking to anyone who did have!

    What’s his username on here?!

    The IMAX film was on Netflix, not sure if it still is. Obviously it works best on a huge screen but was worth watching.

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    He wrote one good book about his accident and then decided he was judge and jury on every mountaineering accident ever and churned out a lot of judgemental drivel spanning several books….

    This game of Ghosts was mostly accounts of all his misadventures and near death experiences, I think he was present at all of those?.

    WEJ
    Full Member

    Saw the film last night, much better than I expected. Well worth seeing if you enjoyed the books, (Into Thin Air and The Climb. I’ve read and enjoyed most of Joe Simpson’s books, but don’t think he had anything useful to add regarding this Everest tragedy)

    Locations were mostly realistic, the bravado of the mountaineers wasn’t, but within acceptable tolerances for a Hollywood movie.

    carbonfiend
    Free Member

    [IMG]http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af186/Thecarbonfiend/image.jpg1_zpslctxmyit.jpg[/IMG][/URL]]null

    Found this in charity shop yesterday it’s the book of the IMAX expedition with some amazing photos of the whole sad episode.

    Dolcered
    Full Member

    Going to see it this weekend.
    I took a mini obsession with Everest, Nepal after a trip there. Read all the books that mentioned 1996.

    My favourite is still Touching My Fathers Soul.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I saw it at the weekend, thought it was very fair to all the characters involved and their various books.

    The attention to detail with all the 80s/90s kit was impressive, I kept thinking ‘I’ve got that crampon, boot, jacket etc in the attic somewhere’. Rob Hall was climbing in 1980s Pink Scarpa Vega boots which you haven’t been able to buy for nearly 25 years.

    Good article here on the film: http://www.outsideonline.com/2007491/everest-movie-cast-and-crew-interview

    jaffejoffer
    Free Member

    never read the books so know nowt about the historical accuracies but saw the film the other night at london IMAX. the film is a fantastic spectacle rather than a good movie, especially in 3d on that screen! very impressive.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    the film is a fantastic spectacle rather than a good movie

    True, if you’d not read the books, or knew the story, I’m not sure how much you’d get from it. I thought it was very good given all the Base Camp scenes were filmed in a studio in Rome and all the climbing scenes in Pinewood with salt being shovelled into a fan, all in front of a blue sreen. Sherpas were flown in to the sets from Nepal to add authenticity.

    johnhe
    Full Member

    I really enjoyed the movie last night. I know nothing about climbing, although I’ve read “into Thin Air” and then subsequently heard online that Bourkreev was treated a bit harshly by Krakauer. In my limited view, the movie seemed very even handed in their treatment of the main characters.

    I found it all very moving. Climbers still seem totally bonkers to me, and seem to follow their passion with a bloody, single mindedness which is a little bewildering to laymen like me.

    beej
    Full Member

    I saw it last night too. I read Into Thin Air a while ago plus some of the discussion around it. The Russian guy came across as pretty heroic in the film and I felt it was free from most Hollywood terribleness. I’d struggle to pick out anyone who was the “hero” or “villain”.

    In summary – what johnhe said.

    gravitysucks
    Free Member

    My favourite is still Touching My Fathers Soul

    Indeed. One of my fave books.

    Not read the climb though so will give that a read for some balance…

    peterfile
    Free Member

    I popped into watch it in 3D on my way home from Glentress yesterday afternoon.

    HUGE cinema…I was the only person in there!

    I’ve read all the books, some parts of the movie seemed surprisingly accurate and other less surprisingly way off the mark.

    That said, it’s a movie based on a true event, rather than a documentary, so I’m happy not to pick holes.

    It’s actually very entertaining, worth watching in 3D too.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Jon Krakauer has got his knickers in a twist over it apparently….

    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/into-thin-air-author-jon-krakauer-says-jake-gyllenhaal-starring-everest-is-total-bull-a6668946.html

    Seemed pretty fair to his book other than not blaming it all on the Russians….

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Holy thread resurrection batman….
    Of my own accord, just got round to it wishing I had on the big screen and with some reading about not as based on the John k book as first thought.
    I’ve read a lot about this one and honestly it was a truly moving film that really did convey what was probably going on there. In the end, those that can really fill in the blanks can’t. The why part was strange, when I climbed I thought one day I’d do a big one, because you should, you could or maybe it was expected. Maybe as another mate said about heroin, he’d like to try it but was shit scared about becoming addicted.

    In many ways it’s why my climbing kit could be cutting edge in the film and my bikes are new, pushing yourself in biking is different stw doesn’t have an obituary section in the mag.

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