North Face
Music Box Films | Release Date: January 29, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
This is a film done right by just about every measure. The extremes of the story seep deep into your bones -- the beauty, the allure, the desperation and especially the cold in this world where life literally hangs on rope and what Mother Nature chooses to throw at you. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
This white-knuckle adventure is a literal and metaphoric cliff-hanger that gets a spectacular foothold on an unforgiving mountain. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Transfixing in the way that well-told life-and-death adventure tales inevitably are. It is the film’s more mundane elements -- an awkward, under-nourished love story and half-baked politics -- that are problematic. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
A straightforward, wickedly suspenseful man-versus-nature saga of the type that rarely gets made anymore. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
These fears explain why in its scenes on the Eiger itself, North Face starts strongly and ends as unbearably riveting. They also explain why it was a strategic error to believe this story needed romantic and political subplots. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
More than delivers on the excitement and terror of this existential flirtation with one's own mortality. Where it falters is trying to link this event to Nazi-era politics and a feeble love story. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
An often grippingly staged mountain movie that's good but not great. Read full review
70
Village VoiceBrian Miller
Director Philipp Stölzl makes the movie a tad more political (i.e., anti-Nazi) than it needs to be, but Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
North Face also deals with actual events, offering plenty of thrills and spectacular vistas. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The movie's still quite affecting -- in part because of its simple, old-school earnestness, but mostly because Stolzl does white-knuckle work behind the camera to make you feel the height, pain and awe of the grueling ascent, and the bottomless terror and exhaustion after everything goes horribly, horribly wrong. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
North Face is a gripping, at times downright epic, account of men vs. mountain vs. other men (and, what the hell, one woman). Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It’s a literal cliffhanger and the next worst thing to being there. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
While the movie is never dull, its romantic fodder doesn't do justice to any period at all. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Director Philipp Stolzl worked in the same dangerous conditions as the original climbers, and we can feel the chill and peril in our bones. It's a shame, then, that the screenwriter, unlike the camera crew and the characters, was afflicted with such timidity. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
All the retroactively enlightened symbolism gets monotonous, and reaches an absurd apex with the introduction of a party-line newspaperman played by that scowling emblem of Teutonic depravity, Ulrich Tukur. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The historical backdrop is fascinating and an important part of this story, but there’s a pervasive sense that director Philipp Stölzl and his screenwriters soft-pedal it as much as possible in order to exalt their heroes. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
At some two hours, the film is 30 minutes too long. Cutting out the melodrama and sticking with the daring-do is the answer. Read full review
More From This Movie

67 Critic Reviews

7.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL