The Climbers (2019)

The Climbers is the kind of big-screen adventure that reminds you why we still go to the movies: it turns an audacious real-world challenge into a sweeping, wind-battered spectacle with the scale and momentum of a top-tier blockbuster. Set against staggering Himalayan scenery and powered by impressively tactile effects, it delivers set-pieces that feel both exhilarating and punishing, the sort of action that makes you lean forward and hold your breath. Beneath the thrills, there’s a sincere, rousing tribute to perseverance and national pride, carried by a team dynamic that keeps the human stakes in view even when the mountain steals the frame. If overtly patriotic storytelling isn’t your taste, you may feel the flag-waving, but for anyone craving an exciting, well-made historical survival drama with real cinematic muscle, this one earns its altitude.

The Climbers clearly wants to be a rousing, big-screen tribute to perseverance and national pride, using Everest as the ultimate proving ground. The problem is it often swaps the gritty, survival-based tension you expect from a mountaineering drama for loud, unsubtle melodrama and a heavily patriotic tone that can feel more like messaging than storytelling. Add in uneven CGI and fairly thin character work, and the journey becomes predictable when it should be harrowing. If you’re after a grounded climbing film in the vein of realistic expedition detail, this may frustrate you—but if you can roll with heightened emotion and pageantry, there are still some striking high-altitude set pieces and earnest performances to latch onto.