Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

2/17/18. Amazing cinematography as hikers climb ever onward and upward. Can never understand why people do this, though for some, just being there is enough.

An amazing documentary about three extreme alpine climbers attempting to summit Mount Meru in the Indian Himalayas This film records their second attempt at conquering the impossible Shark's Fin peak, hoping to be the first team in recorded history to do so). The climbing scenes are as terrifying as they are gorgeous (how did they film this thing anyway?!), but it is the personal stories of the climbers that engaged me the most. These are some of the best climbers in the world - their skill, persistence, determination, risk-taking, and obsessiveness about climbing are difficult for most to understand. For example, one of the team, Renan Ozturk, sustained a depressed skull fracture / broken neck / vertebral artery injury in a skiing accident just five months prior to summitting. People! Most doctors would advise patients with even a concussion to not fly for a period of time. Yet, Renan fought back and just five months later was on the side of Meru. In a heart-stopping and heart-breaking turn of bad luck, he had a mild stroke - at nearly 18,000 feet up the mountain. And insisted on continuing the next morning - even though he could not speak, he was physically OK. Still...who does that?! Another climber, cinematographer Jimmy Chin, almost died four days after Renan's injury in an avalanche - on the same mountain where he and Renan had been filming together. It was Jimmy who found Renan injured, lying facedown in the snow. The leader of the team, Conrad Anken, lost his best friend Alex Lowe while on a climb together - and ended up marrying Alex Lowe's wife and adopting their three boys. And that is just a little bit about these incredible men.You couldn't write a more compelling story - and yet this is real life! Superbly filmed, beautifully written, and emotionally wrenching bu5 ultimately deeply inspiring. If you don't get choked up along with these guys at the surprising end to their impossible dream...check your pulse!

This documentary seemed to me to be about totally selfish immature grown men apparently trying to kill themselves with no regard for their families, loved ones and the emergency resources that are squandered trying to save their lives. These guys did not seem like professionals.I respect the skill, courage and endurance involved in mountain climbing but in this case the people involved came across as totally reckless and amateurish with no regard for the gift of life.I did not feel admiration or respect for these people.Their obsession to conquer Meru came across more as a sickness. Were their lives that empty that they had this desperate need for attention? The movie's one saving grace is that the scenery is spectacular.

I am surprised by the high reviews of this film. I enjoyed this film, but it was good not great. The entire film heavily relies on the account of four interviews including the three climbers in what seems like a single interview with each. There were many dramatic moments that could and should have been captured on film, but were instead reenacted. In "Meru" the drama surrounding the endeavor to summit Meru is soft and the stakes are not clear. Better execution of storytelling and drama in the climb movie sub-genre can be found in films like "Touching the Void," "La Dura," and the TV series "Everest: Beyond the Limit." In those films the stakes of the endeavor are real, present, and apparent thought the storytelling. One of the reasons I think opportunities for drama in "Meru" are missed is because one of the climbers was also the director of the film. A few events that seemed important were somewhat glossed over. Although it is a documentary this film still has characters, and I am not a fan of a character that closes a long drawn out sub-plot with, "so yea, I survived." Again, the film is good, not great. Edit: I am told that the shot that are captured are what make this film great. If you say so, I'll watch again, I guess.