Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997)

Jon Krakauer's story of climbing Mount Everest earned him his first best seller. Climbing Mount Everest was something that I would have never thought about before until now. It seems exciting even though there have been many casualties of people achieving the difficult climb of almost 40,000 feet. This movie has a good cast featuring Christopher McDonald as Jon Krakauer, Peter Horton as team guide Scott Fischer, and Richard Jenkins as Beck Weathers. The story of the climb reminds me of a Perfect Storm. After they reach the summit, they face treacherous weather and casualties mount. It's question of survival, clash of egos, and arrogance as well as motivation and drive to achieve the almost impossible of reaching MOunt Everest and surviving the experience.

Krakauer's book is a riveting assessment of how mountains change us, test us, and best us. Unfortunately, these filmmakers were bested by Everest, too. The film was plagued by poor scripting; directing/editing that did little more than offer the chronology of this awful disaster; and it was devoid of either subtext or dramatic tension since we all know the outcome of that particularly disastrous season on Everest. I had high hopes when I set out to watch it, given the good performances I'd seen in the past of Peter Horton (thirtysomething), Nathaniel Parker (The Inspector Lynley Series), and Christopher McDonald (Requiem for a Dream). Stick with the book -- it's a super fast read, and a textured, wonderful, poignant, adrenalin-filled ride!

This is an excellent book that was translated into a poorly written, poorly acted movie. I was really looking forward to watching this when I saw it on the cable guide. Imagine my disappointment as I watched the undeveloped characters morph into Hollywood cariactures and the story line turn into a study of glibness. The director seemed to be rushing from one scene to the next, pausing just long enough to allow someone to spout some clichéd line. I just didn't care about the people and wasn't too interested in their quest. It's almost as if this movie was a homework assignment that someone had to get out of the way before he could move on to what he really wanted to do.The book was educational and compelling. Jon Krakauer deserved better.

Jon Krakauer did a good job of describing the Everest climb in which he participated and which was a fatal disaster for a dozen of those who were with his team.The book was probably the most popular and best-selling mountaineering tale of all time. Readers of the book who watch this made-for-TV movie should be forewarned that the movie not only attempts to chronicle the disaster but is, in itself, a disaster. The movie is perhaps a greater disaster for those who never read Krakauer's book - the editing leaves one wishing for a guide, the acting leaves one wishing for a dinner theatre musical, and the overly trite 'messages' that the movie pounds into the viewer ("be prepared", "you can't always be prepared for disaster", "respect the mountain") left me wishing for a quick ice axe to the forehead.