Quick Info
Free Solo follows Alex Honnold as he prepares to climb El Capitan without ropes. I’ll admit, I went in thinking “okay, how interesting can rock climbing really be?” The answer: absolutely nerve shattering. The sheer madness of climbing a 3,000-foot vertical face with literally nothing to catch you if you slip is both horrifying and mesmerizing, and the filmmakers lean all the way into that tension.
Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi shoot the climb with just enough distance. Sometimes the camera floats away to show you the vastness of the wall. Sometimes it’s uncomfortably close, letting you see the dirt under Alex’s nails. That intimacy ups the stakes and immerses you in what’s basically the world’s most terrifying athletic feat.
What stands out isn’t just Alex’s physical skill but the psychological stuff. The film spends a surprising amount of time exploring Alex’s relationships, especially with his girlfriend Sanni. These scenes occasionally border on awkward, but that realness pulls me in more than any slow-motion summit footage. Climbing is his life, and everyone around him has to live with the idea that he might not come back from the next attempt.
Pacing-wise, the tension actually drags in places, especially through the middle when it’s all rehearsal and mind games. The endless talk of “am I ready yet, should I do this now” wears a bit thin after the third or fourth go-round. Still, by the time he steps up to the cliff, I was gripping my couch like I was the one a thousand feet in the air.
There’s not much in the way of a traditional story arc. The film’s emotional payoff hinges on whether you care about Alex, and your mileage may vary there. Sometimes he comes off as borderline sociopathic, so single-minded that empathy is optional for him. But through Sanni’s eyes, you start to see why he is the way he is, and that tension gives the documentary some emotional gravity.
Visually, Free Solo is ridiculous. It looks better than most action movies. Every drone shot, every sweaty close-up, every echo of wind shakes you out of complacency and right onto that rock face. If you’re not geeking out over photography by the end, you might have missed the point.
The R8 Take
Few documentaries are this intense and physically punishing to watch. If you liked Man on Wire or want to know what real obsession looks like, this is a must, though you might want to watch while sitting down.
