Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

tonyb-778-273815 Krakauers book was superb. Sadly this movie was utterly appalling. It received the 'Holywood' treatment and suffered greatly as a result. Compare this mish-mash of a movie with that brilliant movie 'Touching The Void' In short you cannot make a comparison. The wooden acting in Into thin air bordered on the laughable, and I literally squirmed with embarrassment watching it. I switched the movie off before it reached its climax. I gave my copy to a couple of friends who agreed with me. What a shame-This could have been a riveting account. Sadly I believe that the producers of this movie were attempting to cash in on the sensational-explosive reports that came through in 1996.

Syl Jon Krakauer's story of climbing Mount Everest earned him his first best seller. Climbing Mount Everest was something that I would have never thought about before until now. It seems exciting even though there have been many casualties of people achieving the difficult climb of almost 40,000 feet. This movie has a good cast featuring Christopher McDonald as Jon Krakauer, Peter Horton as team guide Scott Fischer, and Richard Jenkins as Beck Weathers. The story of the climb reminds me of a Perfect Storm. After they reach the summit, they face treacherous weather and casualties mount. It's question of survival, clash of egos, and arrogance as well as motivation and drive to achieve the almost impossible of reaching MOunt Everest and surviving the experience.

webmouse "Into Thin Air: Death On Everest" is a wonderful film and a good start into understanding -- if that is possible -- the need some people have to climb mountains. The film covers the main events of Krakauer's experience and condenses characters to fit the needs of a 90 minute TV film. While the basics are here, the story has been greatly slimmed down and the amount of time involved, truncated. For instance, I would have liked to have seen the daring helicopter rescue by a very brave Nepalese army pilot. To mark a landing spot, those on the mountain made a large X in the snow with a red sports drink.Since the film was produced directly from Krakauer's book, it does not reference other accounts. Krakauer later admitted that some of the details he wrote were incorrect because he was as addled as everyone else, mistaking one climber for another. Krakauer's book is only one of several accounts of the tragic climb that took a fifteen lives in all. This movie could have used an extra half hours to cover more details, but it is fair to say that this is not meant to be a documentary. It comes down to a study of human hubris when faced with the drive to challenge the highest peak on Earth.For those who want to understand the complexity of the real drama, it is necessary to study the other points of view, some of which contradict Krakauer. A good second film to watch is the IMAX film "Everest" which was filmed during the same climb. Anatoli Boukreev wrote a reply to Krakauer in his book "The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest." Scott Fisher's lead Sherpa, Lopsang, also responded to Krakauer's criticisms in writing. Tragically, both Boukreev and Lopsang died in separate climbing accidents not long after the fatal Everest events (Lopsang in September 1996 and Boukreev in December 1997).For those who wonder about what it would be like to climb Everest, it is much safer to watch the film. It is about all the experience most of us will ever need.

crzymnky2590 This movie is a disgrace to everyone who was on the mountain in May of 1996. After reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer then watching the movie I can say that the movie is almost nothing like the book. The movie paints Scott Fischer as a reckless person, determined to get his people to the top no matter what, makes for great story telling, unfortunately for this movie completely false. He was a very experienced climber and knew the risks of climbing. Fischer did care about his people and did not take unnecessary risks. He wanted his people to get down alive instead of dying on the mountain. Anatoli is painted as a person who doesn't care about anyone but himself, if he only cared about himself then why did he risk his life to save the people he did. Rob is some cautious noble person in this movie, while he was cautions he did not argue with Fischer in the book as he did in the movie. Worst of all is Jon himself. What two bit actor did they hire to play him?! He was terrible, not to mention Jon was not awake at the time the people were dying. He had gone back to the tent and slept throughout the night. He never was on the radio and if I remember correctly camp 4 did not have a radio, but rather they tried to get one from the South African team but were unsuccessful. So Hall was talking to base camp instead. Krakauer was not awake and was not a player in the climax of the book. This is the most disrespectful thing in the entire movie. This movie was a rushed movie and was made simply to make money off of a horrible tragedy.