Through a series of exciting events, this documentary movie recounts a hard climbing mission. It follows free climber Tommy Caldwell and climbing partner Kevin Jorgeson while they are preparing to climb the impossible 3000 ft Dawn Wall of El Capitan. They believe that they have the abilities to do this hard mission.
Hanging off fingertips so high pines on the valley floor look like green washing-machine lint -- that's Caldwell's safe place. The Dawn Wall is the best example of living vicariously.
It's the camerawork by director of photography Brett Lowell and cinematographer Corey Rich (along with many other contributors) that impresses the most here.
As the most genuine of crowd-pleasers, it will have you rooting instantly for the two hardworking, charismatic athletes. You'll start to root for the filmmaking, too.
While the climbing scenes are white-knuckle exciting, the filmmakers understand that thrills alone don't make for a good climbing documentary. We have to care about the climbers before they set one foot on the rock.
