Summit Fever

There was a good film in in here somewhere, however, I feel that poor execution, casting, and weak writing (specifically the first half) let the entire concept down. If you can manage to get past the first 45min the film does become significantly more eventful and entertaining.....aided by lower reliance on the character "background" stories and any actual acting.

That being said, it's the first time since The Avengers (1998) that I kept looking at my watch praying for the agony to stop.

In terms of redemption, the climbing scenes were well executed and there are some beautiful cinematic sequences of the mountains.

Probably not the worst film I've ever seen, and I've likely been harsh with my rating so take with a pinch of salt.

SUMMIT FEVER is one of the more disappointing mountaineering films out there, mainly because it has no real plot. At least thrillers like CLIFFHANGER and A LONELY PLACE TO DIE (which director Julian Gilbey also made) had thriller plots with a mountaineering backdrop, which gave them drive and narrative coherency. Here, we just get a group of dull young friends (and added Hollywood star Ryan Philippe for name value) who decide to go climb a few mountains. Tragedy strikes on occasion, but it's not very thrilling or indeed involving. Gilbey obviously has a real-life passion for mountaineering but I do wonder if this would have just worked better as a documentary.

Half of Summit Fever is watching people climb. I know that may not seem like a criticism when that's what the movie is about. But you need more than that for it to feel like a real movie. I might as well watch a documentary or real footage of climbers.

The other half of Summit Fever is the most basic and useless character development and story setup. They throw in a love story that actually works but isn't necessary and doesn't make up for the rest of the movie.

I don't have much else to say. This movie is extremely boring with almost no intrigue. The main part of the story, the biggest mountain they will climb, doesn't happen until 70 minutes into the movie. By then I was mostly checked out. (1 viewing, 3/27/2023)

The writers, producers, and directors put a lot of love into this movie. The actors were excellent and the climbers were superb. The story line was actually great... a lot of characters you really feel for in the end. The shots were amazing, really took my breath away. For any climbers out there, they actually had real climbers doing crazy stuff; awesome to see. In most climbing movies, the story lines are cheesy and just TOO fictional; they also usually have non-climbers trying to act out climbing scenes and it just looks BAD. Definitely NOT the case in Summit Fever. You can tell the actors actually trained in the sport before climbing, and the stunt doubles were real pros. Plus the stories of love and friendship were genuine and real. Icing on the cake was the super 8 film video at the end. Overall the movie was beautiful and acting was phenomenal!

As others have said, the plot to Summit Fever is pretty thin. There's actually nothing wrong with that for an action/survival genre film. The problem is, they tried to flesh it out with drama instead of focusing on the action.

The main character, Michael, is a bit mopey and weak-willed, always being talked into one more mountain by his enthusiastic friend, Jean Pierre. I mean, he has to hem and haw and be convinced to climb Every Single Time.

Then, there's the little romance side plot which is utterly boring, adds nothing to the movie and should have been cut. It causes Summit Fever to lose momentum. Once a character has become dreadfully boring, why should I be invested in their survival?

The drone scenery shots are nice, but the cinematography is disappointing considering the location. It's very generic. The climbing scenes are shot too close and when something does happen, it's over in an instant. Several people actually die, but there's no fanfare around it. They're on a mountain, so some of these people just come sliding by from above and then are gone forever all in 3 seconds. It's like, ok... bye? I'd rather watch this dude struggle and fight and maybe eventually die for at least a few minutes than stare at the French chick's pouty face for 5 straight minutes for no flippin reason. I bet the director had a crush on her.

Summit Fever is disappointing. It tries too hard to stir emotion and doesn't try hard enough to generate adrenaline fueled excitement by proxy. It ultimately fails on both fronts.