Best movie of this year hands down!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

If You did not know about these climbers before You would think that this was a fictionary. The scenes are so realistic that it took a good while to understand that it not was the real people but actors. I was both fascinated and sometimes annoyed over the behaviour of the climbers. But this was a movie that really got to You.Now we have learned that one of the climbers, the swede Fredrik Sträng will climb the K2 again! Thanks to this movie I will watch every steps he will take ans as i did watching this movie--Why?

Interesting documentary, but as others have written, The Summit suffers from a disjointed narrative which impacts it negatively. Largely focusing on the events of two days in 2008, which saw 11 climbers die, it is bizarrely interspersed with K2's first summit attempt back in the fifties. I do not know why Walter Bonatti's tale was woven into this. It had no bearing on the events in 2008 and should have been cut.Also, the narrative jumps between 2008 and an aborted attempt in 2006, but as both attempts feature the same two people in the same geographical area, it is confusing. Also, the film mixes reconstruction with actual footage which adds more confusion.Whoever edited this deserves shooting, as does director Nick Ryan for his blatant bias toward the fellow Irishman Ger McDonnell, who lost his life on K2. Trying to shoehorn a story of heroism into this mess of a film is incongruous at best. If he wanted to tell the story of Ger, he should have set that stall out to begin with, then weave the other narrative around it. Instead, we get some heavy- handed clunkiness about his (possible) heroism, based on supposition and hardly a shred of evidence. Really? The Koreans were further down the mountain than they were? Ger cut their tangled ropes and helped them down? Based on no evidence at all. This is a dog's breakfast of a documentary, lacking in coherent narrative and some bad directorial decisions. Why the high score, then? Despite all of the above, it was gripping in parts, and had some utterly breathtaking cinematography. It also gave the viewer an insight into the harsh, unforgiving "death zone" of K2.

If a documentary should take its audience to somewhere they should never otherwise go, then this documentary is a startling success. Real footage shot at one of the most extreme places on Earth, on the deadliest day the mountain has ever known. The film's greatest weakness is a patch work of acted out fill-ins to help the story along, however, these are understandably necessary additions. Its extraordinary to have any footage at all from such a place. It will be a long time before we see another mountaineering documentary as real and epic as this one. Well done.

If one is to delve into the wealth of mountaineering lit that is easily attained, it doesn't take long to understand that mountaineering on tourism mountains like Everest (and now it seems K2), is ultimately an exercise in selfishness. A team experienced in mountaineering, minimising risks on a tough to conquer mountain is fine. Standing in a queue under a massive Serac, well past the turn-back time, deep in the Deathzone, is not mountaineering. In scenarios like that, I root for the mountain.In this respect, I believe "The Summit" performs well. Blondie's crocodile tears seem specifically edited to fool no-one. The other protagonists all seem at ease with their dis-ease. They seem to realise the folly and they don't try to paint themselves in any more of a appealing light. So from that respect, the interviews with the survivors seem believable.However the documentary is very fragmented and often confusing. No major attempt is made to shed further light on this wipe-out of human life and if you're looking for facts, you'll struggle.The hero of this Irish doc is Ger McDonnell. The only climber who seemed to acquit him or herself with any bravery that those without a notion of the dangers of high altitude, could find remote sympathy for. While others struggled for their lives, he is portrayed as a hero, almost unaffected by his surroundings. In truth, the gravity of the situation is not well portrayed. With this in mind, watch "Touching the Void" or "North Face".In short, fair play to those involved in the making of this documentary and their are some interesting perspectives (McDonnell's family portray strength and intelligence). If the point is to swipe at tourism mountaineering, then job done. Unfortunately, I've seen much better.