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A climbing expedition on Mt. Everest is devastated by a severe snow storm.
“Everest” is a British-American-Icelandic 3D biographical disaster drama and adventure thriller directed by Baltasar Kormákur and written by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy. The movie opened the 72nd Venice International Film Festival in September of this year, and was met with mixed reviews. It is based on the real-life events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, and focuses on the survival attempts of two expedition groups, one led by Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllehaal) and the other by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke).
“Because it’s there.” A classic reason to climb a mountain – but perhaps not a good enough reason to see a movie. With a cast comprised of mostly unknowns, the star of the movie is the mountain. With “Everest” shown in IMax 3D, things don’t get better, only bigger, more in your face, more stomach churning.
There are many movies that this would be a good thing; with “Everest,” this is sadly not the case. It is a bombardment of visual splendor with a choppily acted script. It offers the audience a fly-on-the-wall perspective of facing mother nature, with mother nature proving her indifference to human survival, but simply not enough insight into who these climbers really were to make me care about their story.
From the thrill, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting perspective, “Everest” absolutely delivers. I have never strapped on climbing gear. Never really had any desire to. After watching “Everest,” I have even less of an inclination to do so. There are many movies that inspire me to try something new, to embark on an adventure. “A Walk in the Woods” left me with a true desire to hike the Appalachian Trail. “Julie and Julia” had me in the kitchen trying my hand at new and challenging recipes. “Everest” left me wanting a hot tub and a stiff drink!
The director absolutely conveyed the danger, adventure and majesty of mountain climbing with scenes of climbers crossing giant ice chasms on nothing more than roped together ladders. As the climbers made their way up the mountain from base camp to ice and snow encrusted satellite camps up the mountain, I became chilled and uncomfortable – all the time sitting in a perfectly climate-controlled theater. Bravo Mr. Kormákur on transporting me so completely to the mountain side!
When the storm that takes 8 lives begins to howl down on the climbers, I became far more involved in the amazing cinematography than in the lives that were in danger. Although heart-wrenching to see lives lost and climbers brutally injured, I rarely felt a human connection to them. In many instances the arrogance and conceit that was portrayed in these climbers made me care even less about them.
However. as I mentioned earlier, I am not a climber, nor am I an athlete. Perhaps from an athlete’s or outdoors man’s perspective the story will be appreciated, better understood and carry a deeper value on facing nature with courage, grace and determination.
In theaters September 25th. In IMAX theaters now
