It's a cautionary tale, where the slightest mistake could have tremendous consequences.

| Original Score: B | Jul 23, 2020

The constant bombardment of facts, opinions, and time jumps is a lot to digest, causing a lot of the emotional bits to slip through the cracks.

| Original Score: 6.7/10 | Apr 11, 2019

Structurally confused and suspect in its depiction of the events. Bad taste and poor decisions waylay any attempt at emotion.

| Original Score: 1/5 | May 30, 2014

Visually impressive and well-researched, The Summit certainly stirs up the terror and mystery that attended that disastrous weekend.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 27, 2013

Remarkably, The Summit achieves some of the same dizzying impact as Gravity -- by philosophical and psychological means, rather than special effects.

| Original Score: A- | Oct 30, 2013

The Summit rises above the foothills of clich to bring some existential oomph to the accident scene.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 25, 2013

The Summit picked up an editing prize at Sundance, which you can only surmise was awarded because the film does a fine job of leaving you as confused as the people on K2.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 25, 2013

The subject is fascinating and the cinematic punch afforded by peaks so massive, inspiring with their terrible beauty is a filmmaker's dream.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 24, 2013

It still works as a cautionary tale of man vs. nature hubris, but the endgame finger-pointing among survivors, their families, and one amazing Nepalese sherpa leaves the viewer frustrated.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2013

You have a tangled story being told by director Nick Ryan and writer Mark Monroe in a somewhat tangled way. The result isn't as much confusing as it is distracting.

| Original Score: C | Oct 18, 2013

First-time director Nick Ryan isn't entirely up to the challenge in "The Summit," but he does deliver some dramatic and visual highs in the attempt.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 17, 2013

The seriousness of the climbers' predicaments overshadows practically every quibble with the story.

Full Review | Oct 11, 2013

This strikingly well-made documentary about a harrowing real-life incident lets itself down by taking a too-ambitious approach to the narrative.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 11, 2013

At once repetitive and puzzling. There is a lot of finger-pointing. Assertions are made, theories offered, but not much in the way of certainty.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 11, 2013

'The Summit' is at its best when it tries to get to the bottom of what went wrong up on that mountain, which leads to exploring what sent these people up there in the first place.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 11, 2013

There's something unsettling about a real-life tragedy presented as an action film; that the filmmakers never acknowledge this is more unsettling yet.

| Oct 10, 2013

It's frustrating not to know exactly what occurred when, how and to whom. Of course, some of this is due to the fact that nobody really knows everything that happened, except, as someone notes, the mountain itself.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 10, 2013

"The Summit" is an impressive achievement, but there's a good reason to ask whether cameras are turning the planet into a playground for the reckless rich: because it's there.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 10, 2013

A film that feels curiously hollow.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 10, 2013

recounts a harrowing tale of endurance, heroism, majesty and human psychology, but for a sport defined by slow, steady progress, Nick Ryan simply jumps around too much.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 8, 2013