Free Solo

An erratic yet ultimately rewarding documentary, Free Solo follows rock climber Alex Honnold as he embarks on a quest to scale a 3000 foot cliff in California – with the movie detailing Alex’s day-to-day exploits along the way, including his sporadically tempestuous relationship with an exceedingly patient girlfriend. Filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin generally do an effective job of establishing the movie’s subject and the degree to which his dangerous exploits have shaped his existence (although the central question of “why?” is mostly avoided), and it’s clear, too, that Free Solo stands as a fairly comprehensive primer into the exceedingly perilous world of safety-rope-free mountain climbing. (As one talking head notes, “everybody who has made free soloing a big part of their life is dead now.”) It’s just as apparent, however, that the picture’s meandering midsection proves a progressively prominent test to one’s patience, as Vasarhelyi and Chin deliver a second act that seems, far more often than not, to be spinning its wheels in the buildup to the climactic climb. (The movie spends quite a bit of time dwelling on the coupling between Alex and his girlfriend, and yet there’s never a point at which we see exactly what she gets out of the relationship.) Such concerns become moot as Free Solo enters its often astonishingly gripping final stretch, as the palpably dangerous nature of Alex’s efforts imbues the proceedings with a striking and seriously tense feel that’s impossible to resist – which ensures that, if nothing else, the picture ends on as gripping a note as one could possibly envision.

*** out of ****