67
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyLos Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyThis is a film done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones -- the beauty, the allure, the desperation and especially the cold in this world where life literally hangs on rope and what Mother Nature chooses to throw at you.
- 80The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenTransfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film’s more mundane elements -- an awkward, under-nourished love story and half-baked politics -- that are problematic.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttMore than delivers on the excitement and terror of this existential flirtation with one's own mortality. Where it falters is trying to link this event to Nazi-era politics and a feeble love story.
- 70VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyAn often grippingly staged mountain movie that's good but not great.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceDirector Philipp Stölzl makes the movie a tad more political (i.e., anti-Nazi) than it needs to be, but Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals.
- 67Portland OregonianM. E. RussellPortland OregonianM. E. RussellThe movie's still quite affecting -- in part because of its simple, old-school earnestness, but mostly because Stolzl does white-knuckle work behind the camera to make you feel the height, pain and awe of the grueling ascent, and the bottomless terror and exhaustion after everything goes horribly, horribly wrong.
- 63Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrIt’s a literal cliffhanger and the next worst thing to being there.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichAll the retroactively enlightened symbolism gets monotonous, and reaches an absurd apex with the introduction of a party-line newspaperman played by that scowling emblem of Teutonic depravity, Ulrich Tukur.
- 58The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe historical backdrop is fascinating and an important part of this story, but there’s a pervasive sense that director Philipp Stölzl and his screenwriters soft-pedal it as much as possible in order to exalt their heroes.
- 50New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoAt some two hours, the film is 30 minutes too long. Cutting out the melodrama and sticking with the daring-do is the answer.