67
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Time OutPhil de SemlyenTime OutPhil de SemlyenAs a piece of watch-through-your-fingers outdoors filmmaking, The Alpinist stands right up alongside the Oscar-winning Free Solo.
- 80VarietyLisa KennedyVarietyLisa KennedyThe images here are often dizzying and dazzling.
- 80CineVueChristopher MachellCineVueChristopher MachellThe footage of Leclerc ascending sheer, near-featureless sheets of rock is so defiant of physics that it is easy to forget just how mind-bogglingly dangerous it is.
- 75Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanThere is a revealing narrative here: a conflict, a climax and a denouement that you may not expect. The Alpinist has built-in drama, simply by virtue of who and what it sets out to document.
- 75RogerEbert.comRogerEbert.comUltimately, Mortimer and Rosen’s film succeeds most as a sincere, wonderstruck tribute to a fellow climber. And if glorifying a sport as lethal as alpinism itself runs a kind of risk, there’s no denying the heart-in-mouth thrill of watching Leclerc in the zone, following an impossible dream and, on his own terms, touching the sublime.
- 67Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurAustin ChronicleTrace SauveurThe Alpinist works as a moving testament to Leclerc’s incredible life and the art of alpinism itself, while even finding time to tactfully wrestle with the difficult reconciliation of the reckless danger versus the peerless beauty of such an undertaking.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergLeclerc’s lack of introspection — you never forget his youth — puts a lot of pressure on the other talking heads. Fortunately, The Alpinist can always count on Harrington for amusing or poignant beats.
- 60The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe movie could stand to demystify how some of its most terrifying early shots were filmed. (Later on, we’re told Leclerc agreed to carry a small camera himself to shoot part of a conquest in Patagonia.) But it does capture its subject’s philosophy.
- 60The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinThe film-makers’ enthusiasm for his clarity of purpose is all well and good, but it does leave the film prone to hyperbole, and perhaps a more measured, sideways look at the weird dropout culture around climbing would have been more interesting.
- 50The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThis is a movie, not a book or feature article. And having a subject who largely refuses to cooperate, thereby forcing the filmmakers to sit around at home and relate much of what happens indirectly, doesn’t exactly make for a classic.