IMAX Everest & Into Thin Air

A couple of months ago I read John Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, which is the account of the worst disaster on Everest. I love Krakauer and I think he's a very talented writer; this was especially crazy because he was up there, not writing second hand like Into the Wild or his latest book, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. This is a crazy book and such a tragic story about how 8 climbers were killed and a handful were trapped on the top of Everest because of a storm. Krakauer does a great job in connecting you with all the people and parties up on the mountain, there were several including an IMAX film crew. I believe he told the sequences of events in a very acceptable manner and in a riveting way; I didn't want to go to sleep because I wanted to keep reading. He really went into detail about their journey to the base camp of Everest and to the other three camps and what they had to pass through to get there. After reading this fantastic book, I wanted to see the film the IMAX crew shot up there wondering if it would have any footage of Rob Hall and his expedition; so I Netflixed it (funny that that is a word now) and watched it.

I didn't expect much of the IMAX Everest film to be about the tragedy but I expected there to be much more than what it was. The film was only 44 minutes, granted it is an IMAX film so its not supposed to be a full feature film BUT still, I know they had tons of other footage they didn't put in to it because when I watched the special features on how they made the film (which is pretty awesome) they showed some shots not in the movie. The special features was 34 minutes long, with basically the same shots from the film, which was kinda too bad. Nonetheless the feat of hauling all that equipment and the camera and film etc. to the top of the world, is a tremendous accomplishment. I will say I wasn't shocked or had my jaw drop when I watched it, like I expected but it was still impressive but the commentary from the climbers was shoddy at best. I guess seeing it in the IMAX would've been better and maybe if I saw it in the mid-90's when it was made would've impressed me more. I think Planet Earth has spoiled us all. So if you read Into Thin Air and was wondering about the IMAX movie, don't, it's not much to watch.