CinemaSerf

If you ever need proof of just how effective drone photography can be at conveying a sense of natural menace and scale, then there are some scenes towards the end of this that really bring that home. This is a mountain that can defend itself, and it's not hard how to see why the local population rever Chumulungma as a goddess whom they respect. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the visiting adrenalin-junkies whose apparent lack of appreciation for just what they are attempting (repeatedly) is made obvious by their application of the term goddess to one of their own number, and from then on in I rather lost interest in those attempting to get to the top via the Chinese north face and then for Jim Nelson to ski back down. The overwhelming sentiment I took from this is that these are a group of profoundly selfish people who profess a love of family but who are prepared to risk that - and put them all under a fairly continual degree of stress - whilst they head off on countless expeditions courtesy of the very prominently featured North Face equipmant company. Indeed, several of the interviews actually left me feeling that a few of these people were addicts. They have a compulsive disorder to end them all, and in view of that I actually found myself wanting them to fail. Not to die or end up injured, but just not to succeed. If you watched "Mountain Queen" (2023) you can't help but appreciate how symbiotic the relationship is between this mountain and it's people, but here all we get are some admittedly very brave and dedicated folk on a money-no-object, bucket-list, exercise that just didn't allure. Much like as with the far better "Alpinist" (2021) there are setbacks, and fatal ones at that, but unlike in that equally daunting and scarily produced feature these people make no effort at all to engage with an audience watching, but are clearly making this film in return for some hefty product placement endorsements as even their most emotionally-charged moments fail to resonate honestly. When they are actually focussed on the climbing then the vastness and unforgiving nature of the challenge is impressive to watch, but there isn't really enough of that to compensate for a great deal of self-indulgence. I was very disappointed with this, sorry.