Review: Fantastically gripping documentary that looks mind-blowing when seen in Imax.
I have been to Yosemite many times and have looked upon the beautiful El Captain. The very idea that anyone would want to climb this seems insane to me and that someone would want to climb it without a rope is even more incomprehensible. To even think about someone doing this brings a question immediately to my mind. What is going through that person's mind? While this is something, I will never completely know, this movie offers great insight. Alex is a truly fascinating human being and the perfect person to make a documentary like this about. The reason for this is that one gets a feeling that Alex cannot possibly pretend to be something else. He is completely honest and natural without a single note of falseness. With this it doesn't take long until we feel like we know him. With this we understand much better why he would want to do this more than we would pretty much any other rock climber.
Also fantastic in this movie is his girlfriend Sanni. She is also so open and honest when talking to the camera. She truly loves Alex and is terrified of the very idea of him dying. This brings up a question that I would have never thought about. What would it be like to have the person doing something like this as someone you love. How hard would it be to deal with the fact that he is drawn to something so incredibly dangerous, where a single tiny mistake can kill him. Sanni has trouble dealing with this. She both knows that she can't hold him back and couldn't live with herself if she did. She pours her heart out when talking to the camera and this pure emotion can easily be felt. There are times when you just want to climb through the screen and give her a comforting hug.
The climax in this film defies description. It is so unbelievably suspenseful. I had to turn my eyes away many times. It does not matter if you know what will happen, the pure scale of what is being done, has a huge effect on you. I found myself closing my eyes and hoping and praying that he would be okay many times. Maybe it is because we are so used to CGI taking out so much of the danger when we watch movies, but the reality is startling. The effect (especially when viewed in Imax) is incredible and so unlike any movie in recent memory. The suspense is often unbearable. Of course adding to this though is the absolute visual beauty of Yosemite (after all that is why I've been there so many times). While the rest of the film is really good, this climax easily takes the film to a whole new level and has to be seen to be believed.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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