TFCM Award - Climbing Movie Reviews

Tal, keep up the great thread. And enjoy Lander.

Movie: The Sharp End (2007)

I had watched this a while back but had blanked most of it out. I enjoyed it - that being said - it's a lot of repeated footage from other films. For that reason, I don't have a ton to say about it - there are a couple parts I wanted to highlight though.

The movie as a whole was actually a great history lesson into scary leads and scary climbing. Some really cool parts included seeing Renan, Honnold, and Cedar out geeking out over some czech sandstone, seeing steph davis free solo some desert towers and then base jump off of them, and seeing literally anything Jonny Copp does in the alpine. The El Cap pirate (Ammon McNeely) is always a treat - and wow honestly more climbing movies need to feature some fucked up aid falls because I don't think people understand just how horrifying aiding is. And lord, the story of his climb in this movie is insane (though I think it's also touched on in First Ascent maybe?)

There's some good footage in here, and some really cool stories. The narrative for the whole thing was well constructed, though the whole "I give them extra props for making it extra scary" idea is a bit outdated for the general climbing community these days. That being said, if you're a big climbing movie buff, most of this footage will be recycled for you which makes it tough to engage for the whole time.

Conclusion: New folks to the climbing movie genre need to watch. Veterans - hell, you've watched enough movies at this point - might as well.

Movie: Wolfgang Climbing Team (Episode 1-3) (2013)

Was hunting around prime video today to see if they had any new climbing docs and this one caught my eye. I couldn't really seem to find any info on it but I figured I'd give it a go - no amazon reviews was enough to definitely make me curious. And holy hell did it pay off.

For the uninitiated (I'm assuming that's everyone), the Wolfgang Climbing Team is what Sean Villanueva, Nico Favresse, and Stephane Hanssens and whatever poor sap gets roped into their plan calls themselves. They're absurdly bold, talented, and entertaining. While each episode is 50+ minutes long, meaning they can be reviewed individually, I figured it would be best to lump them all together because it's likely that once you watch the first one, you'll be hooked on watching the next two anyways.

The first episode is them doing a free ascent mostly following an existing aid line up Mt Asgard and boy does it get your attention early with a butchered seal and what looks like a 70ft whip onto a small nut. The climb continues to stay nuts pretty much to the top - the shots are incredible and the climbing is hard. Honestly - that's pretty much the constant with these episodes. Hard, bold climbing in incredibly scenic areas.

A trip up a tepui in Venezuela is next and again, starts off absurd with a 120ft fall onto - you guessed it - a small nut. Hilariously timed rock fall, salivating rock, and a deep sense of adventure continue to pervade this episode and it's endlessly entertaining. The last episode is, I believe the same trip as Dodo's Delight. A climbing/sailing trip and again, some incredibly enticing lines and unbelievable scenery. All three are can't-miss and endlessly engaging.

Conclusion: An unrivaled adventure series. Equal parts entertainment, climbing porn, earth porn, and small snippets of actual softcore porn.

Movie: First Ascent: The Movie (2006)

Not to be confused with First Ascent: The Complete Series, the movie really covers a pretty significant portion of climbing history while also having a relative ethos about it that most climbing movies don't. Most climbing movies really follow the "person has a project, tries hard on project, eventually sends" storyline - it's classic and kind of what people typically want to see. First Ascent, while it does follow this in many ways, also turns it on its head and reminds us that it's about the journey. Kind of an older version of Stone Locals in that regard.

As it relates to history - if you're like me and got into climbing relatively recently, you're probably savvy enough to know about the earlier days of climbing's history. Royal Robbins, Warren Harding, Pat Ament, Layton Kor, Chuck Pratt, The Bird, Lynn Hill, John Long, Wolfgang, Ron Kauk, Bachar, etc etc. You see all of this in Valley Uprising, Masters of Stone, some of the first climbing movies you might have been introduced too. You're also familiar with the big names now - Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, Adam Ondra, Daniel Woods, etc though more modern videos, youtube channels, etc. But there's a big gap in the late 90s and early 2000s where film went through technological changes that made movies look worse, and the feats haven't quite made it to "legendary" status like the old days yet. People like Topher Donahue, Didier Berthod, Sonnie Trotter, Non Free-Soloing Dean Potter, Cedar Wright, etc. While some of these names are still in the current zeitgeist, how they got there probably isn't as known. If that's the case - this movie is a much welcomed history lesson for you.

This film has some phenomenal climbing, great personalities, a decent storyline, and is an excellent insight into the "who's who" of climbing of the time. It's really well done, and besides an "urban ape" skit with timmy that ran about 7 minutes too long (that is to say, it's 9 minutes long), it doesn't have too many flaws. Is it something I'd watch on a super regular basis? Probably not - it doesn't really scratch that stoke itch for me. Am I pleasantly surprised everytime I give it another viewing? Absolutely.

Conclusion: An entertaining and meaningful look into an often overlooked era of climbing. Not a full on classic, but definitely not a pass-over film.

Movie: Progression (2009)

Wow - this movie is absurdly underrated for what it is. To start - this is probably the earliest released climbing footage that just has that crisp, HD quality to it. Most movies before this one are going to be in 480p, grainy, and feel pretty dated. Progression, visually, is a stunning movie. For the most part, the sound is good too - minus some music choices here and there (but hey - wouldn't be a climbing film without that!)

Beyond the imagery though, Progression is an extremely significant film in helping understand the climbing landscape today. The nostradamus of climbing films for the decade following. Featuring Sharma on his tear, but introducing 16 year old Adam Ondra who would soon collab with Sharma a couple years later in the official torch passing on La Dura Dura in Reel Rock 7. The rise of comp climbing, and cameos of Ondra taking podiums and David Lama's comet of a career. Daniel Woods and Paul Robinson, youngsters in Rocklands with Tommy Caldwell - Tommy even nabs an FA of a hard line off the two and calls it "30s the new 20" - funny, since Daniel Woods established one of the hardest boulders in the world at 31. Then Tommy on Magic Mushroom and the introduction of The Dawn Wall. More foreshadowing, as this transitions to a piece on Kevin Jorgeson and his highball bouldering, as well as Segal and Honnold and KJ all climbing hard on grit and the American tour de gritstone - still legendary in the grit community. AJ makes an appearance on Evilution, followed almost immediately by KJ on The Swarm. The coincidences are unbelievable looking back at it now.

Last but not least - Sharma on Jumbo Love. This one is special - if I was given the ability to not be a dogshit climber and send one hard route in the world - this would be it for me. The fight, the length, the uniqueness, the big air time. It's just a wonderful route, and seeing it come to fruition was awesome. I could watch a whole feature length film on just it, but thankfully this film includes more. I had seen this movie a year or two ago, but surely didn't recognize just its stature in the climbing movie world. It should not be missed.

Conclusion: A timeless, beautiful look at the climbing stories of the following decade. Holds up well, and is the missing link for many newer climbers between the climbing media of the past, and the climbing media of the present.

Movie: Red River Ruckus (2005)

Lord god I've been waiting for this one. This movie is a full on fever dream of a film. The opening montage of 50+ft backflip whips, hard climbing, and outrageously dogshit CGI really sets the tone for a film that is one of the few that seems to be able to truly be able to be classified as "balls to the wall" - at least for a significant part of its runtime. Incredibly early 2000s to its core - this film came out in 2005 and it's probably been about that long since I've heard someone describe something as "gay" but you'll get hit with that early on. Side note - the ginger climber in this film is an absolute lunatic. I didn't catch his name but my god is he a psychopath.

If you're like me and like watching films about local climbing spots before you go visit them - this is a classic. The candid interviews with the locals give a great, accurate look into the scene of the Red (or should I say, the gorge). Joking about Miguel's general apathy towards work, the absolute lackadaisical start of climbers in the red (if you're up by 9 you might as well be on an alpine mission for all the folks there care), and the debauchery that can happen at Miguel's at night. The big whips, the crazy holds - it's all there. If you're looking for a more casual RRG scene, you can certainly find it. Hang out at Sky Bridge Station or RedPoint BBQ and enjoy talking to the folks in the know. But if you're about the insanity - this movie points you in the right direction to find it.

The film definitely loses some steam towards the later end, and starts becoming a bit more of background material. Honestly - throwing this thing on a TV in the background of your halloween party will be a hit, but it's worth a dedicated watch for sure in it's own. It always gets me stoked to head back to the Red and absolutely get my ass beat by those walls.

Conclusion: A ludicrous, early 2000s look at the Red that will either scare you off or psych you up. Buckle up.

Movie: Dosage V (2008)

You know, the more I watch films from this time, the more I understand the zeitgeist now. I guess part of that is me still being a relatively new climber, but I never understand why things like Jade, Ali Hulk, etc constantly pop up. Well - Dosage V answers the question - and as a newer climber, I never thought I'd see the day where a movie features tommy exclusively bouldering in the valley.

Dosage V is kind of a compilation of neat clips - there's zero sense of narration or a plot line - just banger after banger FAs and projects. The cinematography is great and the shots are crisp. Editing is pretty straightforward and on-brand for late 2000s. There's not a whole load of personality shown from most of the athletes, just hard climbing. And it features a lot of classics. Jade, Ali Hulk, Meltdown, Neanderthal, etc. Which is wild, because I was obsessed with Meltdown for a while and couldn't seem to find footage anywhere - it was right here!

Anyways - it's a cool film to watch to stoke yourself up. It's made well and cut together well, the footage is good. IMO, there's not a ton of rewatchability unless you're stoked on one specific line featured, but it was well done for sure. It is fun to read the old Climbing mag reviews of the movie though. What a bastion of journalism.

Conclusion: Great footage of classic lines, but doesn't inspire much in terms of rewatchability. 

Hey folks,

Recently tore my labrum and have some excess time to grind out some movies. I'm planning on doing another March Madness where I set the seeding myself. What films should be considered? All of the conditions listed on the OP of this thread need to be met - the current list I'm considering is those listed on the OP. Am I missing anything?

Movie: Masters of Stone 5 (2000)

Whew - this one gets the heart going. My review on this will be pretty short which...is not a good thing. I think this is one of the weaker masters of stone for me - though if you're a big Dean Potter fan, you'll likely feel differently.

Overall the video quality on this did not age well at all - especially during some of the more active footage. To the point where it detracts from the film more than some others I've seen. Additionally, there's pretty much zero narrative on this - which is strange for a film that focuses predominantly on one person. You see that pretty often with Sharma bouldering movies, but they at least have slightly more coherent themes.

This film is mostly Dean Potter doing sketchy shit, Steph Davis doing some sketchy shit, and then Dan Osman doing sketchy shit as always too. It's adrenaline pumping, but it's difficult to stay fully engaged with, and fills that "background at a party" role as well.

Conclusion: A good film for a Dean Potter fanatic, but pretty weak otherwise.

Movie: Small Walls (2018)

My first post-surgery watch - I stumbled upon this via Dakota's reddit thread on his topos. I was super pleasantly surprised - in that I actually really loved this film.

Small Walls is a movie about midwest rock climbing. I got to experience midwest rock climbing for the first time this summer, climbing around the UP of Michigan with my partner on a work trip. This film does such a good job of capturing the stoke of the community that doesn't have a ton of rock to call their own. It's also just a story of friendship, and the fun had in just exploring around with your friends.

Small Walls does also feature some pretty cool climbing, and it's refreshing to see a video of route development and climbing in general that's not just pushing 5.14s or whatever. The climbs looked just as rad as those crazy hard ones (except the sand pile). The cinematography is beautiful, the folks featured are fun. I don't really have any negative criticism about this movie except some of the music-less shots seemed to drag on a bit long (around the Off Width His Head timing). The second half of the film is really a blast.

Conclusion: Small Walls is a beautiful look into midwest climbing and the fun of route development. I dearly wish there were more climbing movies like this out there.

Movie: A Feather In The West (2020)

Well, speak of the devil. Another neat FA based movie. I watched this movie a while back but didn't really remember it and I'm surprised because it was actually a really enjoyable watch and one of my favorite sea cliff based climbing films.

AFITW is just an enjoyable film of climbing film of irish island exploration. The shots are absolutely beautiful, the climbs are beautiful, the accents are beautiful. Everyone kind of has their own thing going on throughout the film which breaks up the narrative a bit unfortunately.

The film just barely makes the cut from a length perspective at 45 minutes - which combined with the broken up narrative keeps from being as satisfying at it could be but it's still absolutely worth a watch for some quick inspiration.

Conclusion: A beautiful sea cliff exploration film that falls just short of how satisfying it could be.

Movie: Rampage (1999)

Have been pretty eagerly awaiting this day - I've actually never seen this film that many consider one of the best bouldering films ever made. So - does it hold up to all of the hype? Honestly...in some ways, yeah. In other ways, for me, not really.

This film is largely a coming-of-age for bouldering as a sport featuring some of the biggest boulders in the world at the time in Obe and Sharma. Which, by the way, if you're like me and a newer climber who hasn't seen a ton of Obe or understand his significance in the climbing world - watch this movie to understand. It's pretty rare to see a film where someone is keeping up with or besting Sharma consistently - and this is one of those. The boulders featured in the film are pretty rad, and I love that the areas shown are a bit more under the radar compared to other climbing areas these days. Castle Rock, Priest Draw, The Tramway - not really places you see featured in films these days.

There's some breaks in action throughout the film that's pretty typical of the time - they're entertaining but transitions are a bit harsh and they can be a bit drug out. It's clear that Rampage set a standard for a lot of bouldering movies since it released, however, and its influence is clearly legendary. The breaks aren't 100% my speed in films, but it has that skate film type vibe that really helps build stoke for a trip of your own. The footage is decent quality for the time period, the music blends at least relatively well without much obvious "wtf" that comes with music taste from some films at this time. Also, it features climbing at the X-Games which is sick.

Conclusion: A great look at climbing history and some of its greats. Way ahead of its time, hugely impactful, and definitely a must-watch for bouldering aficionados.

As an aside, for anyone wondering what Obe has been up to lately - this article is a great read and a look into what he thinks about this time in his life: https://mojagear.com/climber-spotlight-obe-carrion/

Chode riding wrote:

Wait Tal so what didn't you like about Rampage?

I think it's the greatest climbing film that will ever be created.

Didn’t love the random breaks throughout it. Short of the slap game one and Obe’s golf swing, they were pretty abrupt and not super entertaining in my opinion. And it’s more so a product of the time but the camera quality of the day can be hard to get around with how good the quality is of stuff now - hard to fault it for the technological limitations of the time though.

I liked A Feather in the West for its "every person" perspective. Plus its beautiful. I mean no disrespect to pro climbers but I tire of "Just another pro climber video" productions.

Movie: Valhalla: Cielo de Roca (2020)

Man, I really really wanted to love this movie. This climb is absurd - the setting is immaculate, the holds/features look wild. Rural China, Cambodia, just a lot of ingredients that should have made this so rad. Just overall this should have been an absolute slam dunk. It, however, was not.

The most glaring issue with this film is the editing. I mean, it is truly atrocious. The color balance is horrendous. The rock oscillates between blindingly white and pee yellow throughout the movie constantly. Shots are super washed out, super dark, overly contrasted, strangely colored, etc. The footage itself would be beautiful if edited correctly and I'm not really sure how such a massive oversight was made so many times throughout the film. It's not just one or two shots, it's probably at least 1/3 of them. It's honestly pretty distracting.

Additionally, Edu doesn't really come across as a super likeable guy in this film. I'm not sure if it's a language/translation thing, or maybe cultural differences between myself and folks from catalonia - but the whole idea of bolting this pretty culturally important place in China, complaining about access, complaining about the hike, etc. etc. It just comes across as pretty tone deaf and overall makes him and his father seem pretty entitled. Maybe I'm the only one who got that vibe, but it made it hard to root for him.

Conclusion: A ton of potential that ultimately fell pretty flat.

Keep them coming, please!

Movie: The Dawn Wall (2018)

Wow - this film is a good one. Have you all heard of this before? 

The Dawn Wall is one movie I do a pretty good job of not burning myself out on/watching too regularly. It actually won last year's competition - and honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I hadn't watched it in a while and my last rewatch had probably been half assed. This was my first time watching it after my first real yosemite climbing trip, and it felt like I was watching it all over again.

The thing the Dawn Wall does really well that a lot of other climbing films don't is that it's just a really good movie. Not a really good climbing movie, but it stands on it's own for non-climbers. The story telling is engaging and follows a great narrative. The cinematography is unreal and the soundtrack is excellent. Tommy and Kevin are great to cheer for. The conflict is very man-vs-nature so it doesn't have some of the relationship dynamics that people didn't enjoy about Free Solo. It brings climbing down to a level that both communicates well to non-climbers and isn't too dumbed down/boring for climbers. It just does everything really well. You could throw this on in the company of anyone and they'd be able to appreciate it.

I've probably seen Dawn Wall at least 10 times now and I'm just consistently blown away by how well it holds up. It hasn't mattered what stage of my climbing life I've been in when I've watched it (I didn't even climb when I first saw it!) - it's always been inspiring, entertaining, and loved. 

Conclusion: A classic among classics

Movie: Reel Rock 17 (2023)

Reel Rock is back to doing tours this year, so I went to the one in Denver tonight. Obviously the presentation is a bit different at a live show vs a recording on your computer, so I'll do my best to separate the two.

The first feature shown was DNA, about Seb Bouin's new 5.15d. I didn't really know about the Verdon, or much about Seb prior to this movie. I'd followed his FAs a bit, and watched some of his videos, but knew pretty much nothing about him the person. I was blown away - the incredible aesthetics of the climb, his background, how ripped his mom is. The whole thing was honestly very enchanting. We're so fortunate to have had two high quality videos made about the 2 hardest roped routes in the world - but wow this one really was enjoyable. The pacing was great, the shots were mostly superb (except for some weird "from below" shots that didn't really fit), the entertainment was all there. No real negative comments on this and will likely come back to it regularly.

The second feature was Resistance Climbing, about the Palestinian Climbing scene and conflict, as well as Bisharat's exploration of that. Now I'll be honest. I'm a bisharat hater. If there is 1 Bisharat hater on this world, that is me. If there are no bisharat hater's in this world, it is because I have left it. Don't be confused - I'm not gonna say "oh but he was actually solid in this film". In my opinion, he was easily the weakest link of this film and generally detracted from my enjoyment of it. I don't want to spend too much space on him, so I'll summarize it by saying he did an excellent job of not really having anything meaningful to add to the discussion while also being incapable of getting out of the way. The other parts of this film were superb. The local palestinian climbing community seems wonderful. They bring an incredible amount of nuance into the intersection of life and climbing. Their candor, their excitement for the sport, and how they're overall full of life. This film really continued the messaging we saw 2 years ago in Black Ice showcasing the "why"s of climbing. The editing in this film was great too - a lot of the visuals given went a long way to educating the audience on the conflict as well - allowing audiences to understand the gravity of the situation and the importance of climbing to the group featured themselves.

The last feature was Burning The Flame, about Babsi and Jacopo's flash of The Eternal Flame on The Nameless Tower in Pakistan. I'll start off by saying the footage in this film is absolutely jaw dropping. I mean, if there's ever an opportunity to see this in iMax - I would highly recommend it. It is beyond beautiful. That being said, this film lacks a bit of a narrative to it. It's interesting, scenic, rad looking climbing - however it doesn't really go further than that, which is disappointing for technically the only feature length feature in this film. There's also this weird kind of "Jacopo is fighting to keep up with Babsi" narrative that exists nowhere in the film except for Austin's narration. Feels like it was definitely trying to create a narrative that wasn't present instead of focusing on their "why"s like the first two films did well. Overall, I think this one runs a bit long for how shallow it goes but if I had the opportunity to just get comically high and sit and watch the raw footage for 6 hours I would be very hard pressed to pass it up.

Conclusion: Standard Reel Rock fare. Some winners, some losers - sometimes even in the same feature. Forced narratives still suck.

Movie: Uncharted Lines (2017)

As someone who is constantly fascinated by the idea of developing climbing areas, this movie hit a deep chord with me. Even beyond that though, I love not just seeing the same high-end boulders on every single climbing film. So seeing Paul go around, showcasing many areas' best and brightest neo-classics was a joy to watch. Additionally, watching him pair up with the legends from the established areas was really cool to see.

In general I think this film really speaks to the exploration side to climbing - there's a lot of discourse around things like "XXX is climbed out" and this film very obviously disproves that. You don't have to travel all of the way across the world to Russia in the winter in order to find new lines - just hike a bit further in your background, or look with a bit more of a curious eye. This hits close to home as there's been a ton of bouldering being developed in the front range mere minutes from the road lately - with very quality lines popping up.

Overall this was an enjoyable film to watch. For folks not super into development, it might just be a good one to watch like once every year or something, just to remind you that it's ok to tread off the beaten path every now and then - but for those folks whose hearts lies with the exploration side of climbing - this is one of the better films at scratching that itch.

Conclusion: A great movie that inspires you to take the path less traveled sometimes. Might be a bit slow for some, and a bit motivating to others.

Movie: Smitten (2011)

Yooooo wtfff what the shit was this ending? I mean honest to god we tried googling for like 2 hours after we finished and we still couldn't tell if it was serious or satire. Does anybody happen to know?

Smitten is a wild movie that is probably most akin to a climbing fever dream. I mean, honestly, it's hard to say much more than that. There was some really amazing climbing in here, but also a nauseating amount of base jumping and some pretty thoroughly unenjoyable interviews and skits. Some strange bunny suit appearances - I mean honestly it's hard to even remember what happened in this film because you start thinking about it and you're like "nah - there's no way that was all in the same movie".

I will say one thing this film really shows is just how global Dean Potter's influence at this time was. Everyone was trying to emulate him - in actions, in movies, everything. That might be for the better or worse depending on who you are, but it really shows in this film.

Conclusion: A very eclectic, strange climbing film with some highs and a lot of lows. Watch it once but would probably skip the acid for this one.