Everest

Starring: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Martin Henderson, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Emily Watson, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Thomas M. Wright, Tom Goodman-Hill, Amy Shindler, Simon Harrison, Naoko Mori, Elizabeth Debicki, Ang Phula Sherpa
Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Several climbing expeditions to Mt. Everest are hit by a storm and must fight to survive.

Review:

Tim: Several months before seeing Everest, I read Jon Krakauer's excellent book, "Into Thin Air" about the disastrous 1996 expedition to Everest. I know this movie wasn't based on his book, but reading it did give me a lot of insight into the characters and events depicted on screen. With that knowledge, I can say the movie did a fantastic job of depicting this expedition. While obviously they couldn't include everything in a 2 hour movie, they did a very strong job of telling this story. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from start to finish.

Everest itself becomes a character in the film. The mountain is brutal and I loved seeing the depiction of the hardships that climbers must face if they want to stand on top of the world. As one character says, humans are literally dying at that height. I always had a desire to climb Everest, until reading Krakauer's book (and seeing this movie)- I don't know if I have the strength to suffer for weeks while attempting to make the climb. It's one of the most difficult, remarkable achievements humans can make. I loved seeing that all depicted on screen. The cinematography was incredible- I loved the look and feel of the mountain. It truly felt like you were there.

The cast is very strong. I liked Jason Clarke as Rob Hall. He was believable as the expedition leader and he conforms with what I know about Hall. He was well cast. Jake Gyllenhaal may not look like Scott Fischer, but he embodies his spirit very well. I do wish the film spent more time on Fischer- he was a very experienced climber, so how did he find himself in a challenging situation? There's much more to his story than was depicted on screen. I understand focusing more on Hall's team, but I wish we got a few more minutes with Fischer. I enjoyed seeing Martin Henderson here- he was a nice addition to the cast. John Hawkes made a good Doug Henson. James Brolin was wonderfully cast as Beck Weathers. He's much more charismatic than I imagined Beck to be, but he captured his Texan spirit well. I liked seeing Sam Worthington here. I'm not sure why he hasn't had a bigger career since Avatar. I think he's a good actor. While his role is smaller, it adds to the film. Keira Knightley was fine, but doesn't have much to do. Emily Watson was a nice addition. I liked Michael Kelly as Krakauer- I wish we got to spend more time with him, but I do know his story from "Into Thin Air". Really, as a whole, the cast was very strong. I felt like for the most part, we got to spend enough time with the right characters. It'll never be perfect in a cast this large, but director Baltasar Kormákur balances the cast much better than I would have expected.

Although I knew who lived and who died, I appreciated that aspect of the film for people unfamiliar with the story. You know the expedition resulted in tragedy, but there is a real question about who will live and who will die. There's some unexpected moments in that survival story, but the question of who will make it out alive would be intriguing to many viewers. Even knowing the outcome, I still got caught up in the survival story. This film is intense and moves quickly. It never feels overly long- indeed, I would have been happy with another 10-12 minutes. There's a lot of story to tell. I do wish we had a few more minutes explaining things at various points in the movie. For example, the movie never explores why the oxygen tanks were empty, when Krakauer's book offers a fairly plausible explanation. There were several points throughout the movie when we needed another thirty or sixty seconds for explanation.

Everest may not have packed quite the overpowering punch I hoped for, but it gets awfully close. It's very difficult not to get emotional towards the end of the film as you start to understand the terrible toll on human life that Everest claimed in 1996. It's a tragic story and one that I am very glad was told in this film. This is a beautiful film to see and effectively tells a fascinating story of human survival and courage in defeat. The film may not quite be great, but it's one of the better viewing experiences I had in 2015.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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