Julian Gilbey’s latest film, Summit Fever takes viewers on a trip to the Alps where two best friends Michael (Freddie Thorp) and Jean Pierre (Michel Biel) attempt to take on three of the world’s most difficult mountains to climb. Michael is a levelheaded climber who is about to enter the corporate world and leave climbing behind, but when Jean Pierre convinces him to spend a week at Chamonix, Michael decides to change his plans and go for the summit instead.
When Michael meets up with Jean Pierre and his climbing crew, it is an understatement to say that these people are insufferable. They exude an otherworldly cockiness for climbing that seems not only like a false representation of what real climbers are actually like, but also downright irresponsible. They trash talk each other as they climb, pushing each other to take risks that seem like pretty bad ideas considering that you could, uh, you know … plummet to your death with even the smallest misstep. Thankfully, viewers don’t have to deal with most of these friends for too long though, since almost all of them eventually end up falling off the mountain at some point. Even so, getting used to their collective overwhelming bravado can seem like a gargantuan task at times.
After a series of deaths and close calls occur while climbing, Michael starts to re-think this whole “getting to the top” thing. He tries to bail, but Jean Pierre cannot let go of the dream of summitting Mont Blanc. Fearful that Jean Pierre isn’t thinking straight, Michael reluctantly agrees to accompany him on this final ascent. Obviously, because this is a movie where movie things happen, things go wrong very quickly. An unexpected storm hits while the duo and two of their friends are smack dab on the side of that giant rock. Rescue helicopters are unable to reach them until the storm clears, so the group must try to survive until morning. Oh no!
Admittedly, the high stakes action and suspense that takes place during this final attempt at summiting is moderately fun, if not also a little bit depressing. Viewers will realize relatively quickly that the mountain does not care if the group lives or dies which feels like a pretty apt thing for a mountain to feel because you know, nature and Jack London and all of that stuff. However, what is problematic is that it takes over an hour for any of the really exciting parts of the film to happen so that by the time everyone is starting to suffer from third man syndrome, you may have already fallen asleep just like the hypothermic actors on screen.
The first two thirds of the movie jump back and forth between short climbs with semi-suspenseful moments and long, boring exposés of the love story brewing between Michael and a nice, French skier Isabelle (Mathilde Warnier). There are some interesting conversations that take place between Michael and Jean Pierre about their seeming need to partake in these extremely dangerous climbs, but overall, the characters are either too boring or too over-the-top to really be taken seriously. Those who have watched actual documentaries about climbing — i.e. Free Solo or Touching the Void — may balk at the pure Hollywood-ness of the representation of these climbers’ lives.
Summit Fever does occasionally lend itself to some fun and intense drama. It also manages to create a disturbing feeling of unease and mortality that arrives after having watched person after person fall off the side of a crag. Many of the film’s shots of climbing are genuinely breathtaking, especially for a film that feels all over the place. However, the movie never really seems to dig its toe picks firmly into the plot or its characters, and because of that Summit Fever ultimately ends up being more low grade than burning up.
Photo courtesy of Saban Films
The post Summit Fever appeared first on Spectrum Culture.