Man against nature films are a dime a dozen these days at the movies. From Vertical Limit to Twister a few years back, these films usually make a bundle at the box office. The Climb, a religious production from Billy Graham Pictures isn't quite like mainstream Hollywood films but still is a basic mountain climbing film. The difference here is that the film tries to push the human element of the conflict involving two climbers climbing a challenging mountain as a publicity stunt for a media tycoon. The film attempts to humanize what's really a man vs. nature idea and fails.
The production values for this film go the way of cheap and fake looking. This film reeks of a low budget. Special effects are all but absent and the camera work is pedestrian at best. The film purposely does away with the expected mountain climbing action sequences no doubt to keep the film under its budget. Don't go into this film expecting what you saw in the aforementioned Vertical Limit because this film is devoid of any action. The film instead turns its focus towards the two climbers personal struggles. The personal struggles of the two main characters are just too dull and all together uninteresting to hold one's interest for long. One character has some grieving over the loss of a wife and the other is having problems with his marriage. These characters spend their training for the climb and the actual climb complaining about how others have made their lives miserable. How entertaining.
The media tycoon played by the only known actor in the film, Dabney Coleman, is a smarmy and consistently evil. He organizes the climb to get others off his back for his screwing up of the development of stores in minority neighborhoods. Coleman's performance is all-evil, all the time and he's effective in this limited role. The acting done by Jason George and Ned Vaughn as the two climbers is rather limited in expression and feel. They go through their roles like they are sleepwalking.
Overall, The Climb is a bland and sleep-inducing drama about two men who have terrible personal lives and like to complain about them nonstop.
Rating: 55
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