''The Climbers'' () is a 2019 Chinese

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Daniel Lee and written by Alai. The film stars Wu Jing,

Zhang Ziyi Zhang Ziyi (; ; born 9 February 1979), sometimes credited Ziyi Zhang, is a Chinese actress, known for playing independent and strong-willed characters. Born and raised in Beijing, Zhang was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama in 1996. Th ...

, Zhang Yi, Jing Boran, and

Hu Ge Hu Ge ( zh, c=胡歌, born 20 September 1982), also known as Hugh Hu or Hugo Hu, is a Chinese actor and singer. He rose to fame for his role as Li Xiaoyao in '' Chinese Paladin'' (2005), and has since starred in a succession of popular televi ...

. The film tells the real-life expedition of two generations of Chinese mountaineers to ascend

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

from the perilous north side in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and 1975. The film was released in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

on September 30, 2019.

Plot

In 1960, the Chinese mountaineering team made its first

attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

to summit

. Acting team leader Fang Wuzhou was faced with a critical decision—save his teammate Qu Songlin or preserve the camera in Qu Songlin's hand. Choosing to save his teammate, Fang led the team to successfully reach the summit from the treacherous

North Face North face or Northface or The North Face may refer to: * North face (Eiger), in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland * North Face (Everest), in Himalaya, usually traversed ascending Everest from the north * North face (Fairview Dome), a climbing route i ...

, accomplishing what the global mountaineering community deemed impossible. However, due to the lack of a 360-degree photographic record of the peak, the feat was not internationally recognized. In 1975, determined to gain global recognition, the Chinese mountaineering team regrouped. With the support of

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

Xu Ying, Fang Wuzhou and Qu Songlin led a new generation of climbers, including Li Guoliang and Yang Guang, on another perilous ascent to the world's highest peak. Awaiting them were even harsher conditions—and a life-or-death challenge.

Cast

* Wu Jing as Fang Wuzhou (based on Wang Fuzhou) *

as Xu Ying * Zhang Yi as Qu Songlin * Jing Boran as Li Guoliang *

as Yang Guang (based on Xia Boyu) **

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan,; is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically perf ...

as old Yang Guang *

Wang Jingchun Wang Jingchun (; born 12 February 1973) is a Chinese actor. Awards He won the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2013 for his performance in Ning Ying's film ''To Live and Die in Ordos''. In 2019, he won the Silver B ...

as Zhao Chun * Chen Long as Lin Jie * He Lin as Zhao Hong * Choenyi Tsering as Hei Mudan * Liu Xiaofeng as Xu Haotian * Tobgyal as a Tibetan Buddhist monk * Lawang Lop as Jiebu (based on Gongbu)

Production

Before the film was filmed, actor Wu Jing underwent a half-month cold tolerance training in Mount Gangshka, Menyuan Hui Autonomous County,

Qinghai Province Qinghai is an inland province in Northwestern China. It is the largest province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xining. Qinghai borders Gansu on the nort ...

. Production started in February 2019 and ended in late April 2019. Most of the film was shot on location in

southwest China Southwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Xizang. Geography Southwestern China is a rugged and mountainous region, ...

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...

. On February 16, 2019, actress Zhang Ziyi announced on Sina Weibo that Wu Jing, Zhang Yi, Jing Boran and He Lin had joined the cast. On March 1,

and

joined the cast, and Zhang Ziyi would play a meteorologist.

Release

The first poster was released on August 29, 2019, and the first official trailer was released on September 10, 2019. The film premiered at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president for the main competition. South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won the , the festival's top prize, fo ...

on May 17, 2019, and it was slated for release in China, the UK and North America on September 30, 2019.

Reception

''The Climbers'' grossed about 400 million yuan on its third day of screening. The film earned more than 761 million yuan on its opening weekend. The film's overall rating on

Douban Douban.com (), launched on 6 March 2005, is a Chinese online database and social networking service that allows registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music, recent events, and activities in Chinese ci ...

was a 6.5 out of 10 as of October 2019.

References

External links

* *
The Climbers at rottentomatoes.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Climbers, The (2019 film) 2019 films 2010s Mandarin-language films 2010s adventure drama films Chinese adventure drama films Films shot in Tibet Films about Tibet 2019 drama films Films scored by Henry Lai Wan-man