Free Solo

Free Solo follows rock climber Alex Honnold as he prepares for and attempts something no one has done before: climbing the nearly 975-metre granite face of El Capitan in California's Yosemite National Park without ropes or any safety equipment. Such a climb, known as free soloing, leaves no margin for error. The film documents Honnold's training and planning alongside the people close to him, including his girlfriend Sanni McCandless and fellow climbers such as Tommy Caldwell, who grapple with what his ambition means for them.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin directed the film, with both also serving as producers alongside Evan Hayes, and Chin appears on screen as well. It stands at the start of the directing pair's filmography together, followed by The Rescue, Return to Space, NYAD, Wild Life, Endurance, Lost in the Jungle and Everest: The Other Side. Much of the footage was shot by climbers working on the rock alongside Honnold, which gives the ascent a close, immediate perspective.

Released in 2018, the documentary runs 100 minutes. It found a wide audience for a film of its kind, taking in about 22 million US dollars worldwide, and it holds strong ratings on IMDb, 8.1 from roughly 87,000 votes, and on TMDB, 7.9 from about 1,600 votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 from 159 reviews places it at a similar level to those audience scores.