Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jaymzhimself As an Everest enthusiastic I've read a lot of books concerning the mountain. Lately I've been searching for good films and documentaries on the subject as well. When I checked IMDb for a series I found called 'Everest: Beyond the limit' I was thrilled. With an average grade of 8.6 and produced by the Discovery Channel this should be a blast. I was curious to see what it would be like.The bottom-line of the show is simple. Every year, more and more commercial groups try to climb Everest. These groups consist of Westeners who have paid large sums of money to experienced Himalaya guides to get to the summit. 'Everest: Beyond the Limit' follows the commercial group lead by guide Russell Brice. The group consists of amateur climbers from all over the world, and his job is to get them to the summit. The series revolves around this struggle.Interesting ingredients to make a stunning documentary, I'd say. Even more when considering this all happens on the steep faces of the highest mountain in the world. So, apart from the struggle to get to summit, I also expected to see impressive images, interesting background information on the mountain and an intriguing views in the lives of the Sherpa climbers who make the ascent possible.But I can only say that after watching two seasons (I haven't seen the third yet) I am disappointed. Very disappointed. Instead of all the above, this show only focuses only on the Western climbers. The intelligence level of the show can be compared with MTV shows like 'Made' or 'My super sweet 16'. We are forced to watch the ups and downs of an asthmatic Dane and the mood swings of a Hell's Angel biker. We see a totally unprepared L.A.-journalist get pwned by the mountain. We watch them cry, suffer and struggle. Off course, this has to be part of the show. It's the reality. But in my opinion it's a side-subject and the reason why I watch the show is Everest. I know that human interest can be very interesting, but in this show the center of attention is not the mountain or the way to the summit. The center of attention are the ups and downs of the climbers. The show revolves around it and for because of that it turned the pulp we already have too much of on TV. Really, it's 'The Real World goes Chomolungma'.The first minutes of every episode are filled with flashbacks from the previous episode. I can understand that this is needed, to show the important things that happened before. But all the flashback focuses on is the human interest. After the flashback, we have to watch five minutes of previews of the coming episode. Off course, all focused on the human emotions. Every commercial break is preluded with a toe- wrenching cliffhanger. So dare not to swap your TV to another channel. In my personal opinion this is the exact opposite of the way the presentation should have been. But, considering all this, I still rate the show a seven. Because when I look through all the mind-narrowing garbage the makers throw at me I see the most intriguing mountain of the world. I see a highly experienced guide trying to get through to novice stubborn clients. I see strong Sherpa's with interesting traditions (where the show obviously doesn't attends any attention to). But to see this, I have to fast forward through the all the melodrama and crap that fills up 25 minutes of every episode. But when I've done that, I see 20 minutes of high class TV.

fedor8 There are many aspects of the series that highly recommend it: the visual quality, the tension/drama, the insanity/courage of the climbers, the interesting and often amusing dialog, the scenery etc. However, as silly as this may sound to some fans of the series, I'd have to single out Tim Medvetz as one of the key reasons to watch this. EBTL is not exactly a sit-com, but Medvetz's almost single-handedly provides for the fun-factor. Tim is a genuine character: a rare what-you-see-is-what-you get sort of person, and that is very refreshing these days; he isn't some dull, uptight yuppie (like David Tait) boring everyone to hell with phony, annoying posturing. Many scenes with him are mini-highlights, whether they be about his frustration with expedition leader Brice, or his spontaneous outbursts of patriotism and typically American in-your-face gung-ho zeal. To be THAT cheerful in such harsh conditions is a feat in itself. Some viewers (most notably the frustrated anti-American European types) may find him to be merely a dumb, cocky, brash L.A. biker, but that might be often envy speaking, who knows. He has few or no insecurities, his ego is intact; there is nothing wrong with exuding confidence in what is occasionally even a somewhat childlike manner. Small wonder he was so popular with the Sherpas and other expedition members (with a few exceptions).The second-most interesting/entertaining "character" is Russell Brice. No B.S. with this guy, he's seen it all - and probably too much - hence nothing and no-one can throw him off his game. His warnings, orders, and bitchings directed almost solely at perpetually disobedient Medvetz (and usually over the radio) are very funny. I'm speaking about the second series, of course. There was nothing at all amusing about Tim's disobedience in the first series, which nearly cost him his life. It's a lot of fun to watch two such strong egos clashing, a conflict borne out of the fact that Brice felt particularly strongly about not losing someone like Tim to Everest. When Brice says "I really don't care what happens to him, I really don't..." it's obvious that he does care, quite a bit. Woody, the Aussie guide, is also a bonus for the series. Terry, the doctor from the first series, is a bright, likable guy, but it's the English female doctor, Monica, who provides some much-needed female charm in the second series - seeing as how the rest are all men and Betsy. The likable Danish asthmatic comes off as the biggest lunatic of the whole bunch (no mean feat!), while some of the other people involved aren't too interesting (like the Lithuanian businessman). Still, even the most boring people can grasp your attention with ease, as you watch them struggle with every ounce of energy like maniacs in a little thing called "The Death Zone".There is an episode in which the Dane actually considers whether he should enter the Death Zone without an oxygen bottle (one would think that to be a no-brainer, which is precisely the problem with the Dane - he has no brain when it comes to mountain-climbing matters). In these moments he reminded me of a Monty Python sketch in which Terry Jones (playing an easily manipulated, eager simpleton) was given impossible assignments, such as eating a whole Cathedral or splitting a train with his nose... The ideas some people get... Ts, ts. Still, he was wise enough to turn back on time in the first series and smart enough to finally start sucking on the bottle in the second one.I admit that I cannot entirely see the fascination of reaching the top of Earth's highest mountain any more than I can understand why masochistic cyclists take part in the Tour de Farce just so they can die at the ripe old age of 35 due to heart-failure (them drugs, man). Nevertheless, as stupendously pointless as (extreme) mountain-climbing may (or may not) be, it can be quite transfixing to watch a varied bunch on such a mission, particularly since some of them aren't real pros. You can't help but root for them, in spite of the fact that they willingly - and for no truly valid reason - throw themselves in harm's way, while paying HUGE amounts of money for it! The sole complaint I have is that there are only 14 episodes altogether, and that the Discovery Channel deems it enough to air the series only once or twice per year - as if they had better things to show us. Those constant, idiotic programs about fat, tattooed guys doing things with car parts are supposed to be riveting then?As for the controversy surrounding Brice's decision not to help the dying Englishmen (1st season), I cannot agree with the idiots who gave Russell a hard time about it. When one examines the facts and realities of the environment at Everest, one has to be an utter imbecile to actually think that it would have made sense to risk the lives of up to 20 people to save one. Terry said it best when he compared the situation of dying in the Death Zone to being stranded on the Moon.

Vic_max This show was amazing - highly recommended if you're interested in what it's like to climb Everest. Not for the faint of heart. It's all here - great storytelling, visuals, characters and events - and it's all real.This 6 episode mini-series is brilliantly edited. Every episode keeps a brisk pace as you follow a team of climbers from base camp up the mountain. All of the episodes were engrossing as you follow the struggles and travails of the climbers ... all leading to the final 2 pulse-pounding episodes.I really got a great appreciation of how major an undertaking climbing the mountain really is - even if you're in a commercial expedition like this (about $40K per person) and 'think' your life is going to be made a little easier. This show depicts what it's really like and it's tough - should be left to the best climbers.The visuals are fantastic - you get a precise understanding of the camps locations, routes and topography by use of great 3-d graphics. Most spectacular is the use of cameras attached to various climbers' headgear ... you can see what's happening to the climbers all the time. Also fascinating was listening to the dialog (or lack thereof) with all the climbers via constant radio contact.One more thing about the visuals - we've got a telescopic view from advanced base camp looking up at them so we can see where they are in relation to various parts of the mountain - how cool is that? The climbers were also pretty interesting (though this series didn't really need it). They were all more or less amateurs. Among the climbers were a former Hell's Angels motorcycle designer, doctor, legless man (a double-amputee), and an asthmatic (climbing without oxygen supplement). They all come with different backgrounds and goals. It's kind of amazing to watch their mental and physical faculties drop as they get more and more oxygen deprived. This gives one a glimpse of how tough it is up there.Without a doubt, this is one of the best reality shows I've seen - great intensity and learning involved - highly recommended.

danibethb As an armchair adventurer, I loved this series and the great camera and sound work that made it very real. The personalities are interesting and the dynamics between the expedition leader, the climbers and Sherpas provide plenty of drama for those of us who like to thrill-seek from the comfort of our living room. The only thing that might have made this series better was more of the in-depth interviews of the climbers and crew. I would have loved seeing the climbers returning home to their loved ones after their saga was over. Another thing I would have liked to have seen included is more of the behind- the-scenes footage of all the preparations that the leader, his crew, director and TV cameramen had to go through to get this documentary filmed .