Back when I was a young lad and I had just seen Chris O'Donnell go full retard in the mountain climbing disaster movie Vertical Limit, I was obsessed with mountain climbing movies. I wanted to watch them all. I wanted to see people climbing full snowy mountains only to be engulfed in an avalanche or slip and fall to their death. I was sad to learn that these movies really didn't exist beyond VL. There was K2, but the 90s weren't exactly kind to effects that early. And there was Alive, but that was less about dying via climbing and more about dying via someone eating you. So, beyond a few scenes in The Day After Tomorrow, I had to stick with VL for as long as I could before fully developing a brain and a sense of what actually makes a good movie. However, once I saw the trailer for Everest... that little part of me that loved VL so much got a little bit giddy and I had to see it. While it doesn't have the oozing cheese of VL, and it's actually about a pretty messed up true expedition, Everest is a very serviceable mountain tragedy film.
Based on the best-selling true novel "Into Thin Air", Everest tells the story of the most tragic expedition up Mount Everest ever recorded (actually, it was the most tragic until the year they made the movie... then more people died than even in this film... which is also pretty tragic). It's your standard mountain climbing fare-- Rob (Jason Clarke) is an experienced mountain climber who leads actual amateur expeditions up the mountain for a hefty fee. He's level-headed, he's experienced, and he's about to be a dad as his wife (Kiera Knightley) is newly pregnant. Along for the ride is an obnoxious Texan (Josh Brolin), an empathetic everyman (John Hawkes) and the rival, big mouthed, cocky mountain leader, Scott (Jake Gyllenhaal). Together, they train and trek and scale the huge mountain until they (mostly) reach the summit. However, it's the path down that is somewhat interrupted by a huge snowstorm they were unable to plan around. The storm attacks viciously and winds up leaving quite a few bodies on the mountain permanently in what was then the worst disaster on Everest in history.
That's about it. Beyond little backstories here and there, there isn't much characterization or depth to the characters. They're lucky they got great actors because we still feel a bit of empathy for everyone. Hawkes' character, Doug is the most relatable, but it's the relationship between Rob and his wife that give the movie that emotional umph it needed a lot more of. Beyond that, it's all about the mountain. How can the mountain beat you? Let me count the ways. It's also a very stunningly shot film. I avoided the IMAX truly because I can't stand to watch anything in 3D, but I'm sure even there it's a sight to behold. Even though there's nothing inherently new brought to the table with Everest, I did especially seek it out because I had to see it on the big screen. And whether or not the film is worth your twelve dollars for the ticket remains debatable, the fact that this movie should be seen in theaters is not.
Everest is gorgeously shot and wonderfully acted even if the characterization is a little thin. It's a realistic and tragic story that doesn't necessarily provide the viewer with much happiness and closure, but it does give you a great insight into the never ending battle of man vs. nature and when nature feels like fighting back... man doesn't stand a chance.
B
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