Lacking something more. Some of the climbers who survived the blizzard on the mountain lived to tell the tale, and released books about their ordeal. Jump to 1996 when a group of men and woman decide to climb this huge unsafe mountain.
Advertisement
It’s a tall order for any screenwriter to blend character development with the ordeal of the climb and the accuracy of the real events.
The others were Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), a postal worker from Washington State, the Japanese businesswoman Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) and climbing guide Andy Harris (Martin Henderson). Then there’s Krakauer (Michael Kelly), the journalist who could garner some valuable publicity for the company, Emily Watson exuding compassion as Rob’s co-worker assisting him from base camp and Jake Gyllenhaal as an affable and overconfident fellow expedition leader. Apart from looking anxious and sobbing from the other end of a telephone, they have little to do.
Everest is just that kind of movie. A huge storm comes in and it becomes a race to do everything they can to make sure these people don’t die up there. Just how bad will this storm turn out to be?
Some may find the first half of the film a tad slow and monotonous as the group makes incremental progress, but it’s important in establishing the rhythms and intricacies involved in such an undertaking and the toll that acclimatization can take on the body.
A movie is many things, and this one serves in part as a memorial, a testament to the survivors, to those who tried desperately to rescue their teammates at enormous personal risk, and to the lives lost.
Everest isn’t being disrespectful to the real-life people depicted on camera, but that backfires badly. He never imagined that some of them might not make it off the mountain.
One of the most famous attempts to scale the mountain and reach its 29,028-foot summit occurred in April and May of 1996. But they listened to it with us which was incredibly moving and, of course, very traumatic for them to go through again. Overall it worked well, but never exceeded my expectations.
The movie has earned 8.5/10. While the production as a whole does have merit, the story doesn’t rise up to meet it. Truly a heart pounding thriller as they climb to the top and the realistic looking catastrophe on their descent.
We will remove any comments that indicate you have not seen the movie, as this area is meant to discuss the film only once you have seen it and can talk about your thoughts.
Krakauer is in fact on everyone’s mind when “Everest” opens in New Zealand with the team from Adventure Consultants getting ready for the 1996 climbing season in the Himalayas. The film, however, can’t decide if it wants to stay loyal to its “true story” or play out like a typical disaster drama.
Advertisement
Cleary Kormákur has read those stories, as well as on the trash left by humans even on one of the world’s most inaccessible spots. Shot partly at the magnificent Himalayan mountain itself, “Everest” puts you squarely in the ice-cold hell of it all. “That was a f***ing good choice, if you think about it”, he says, lamenting that people are still talking about it “31 years later, unfortunately”.
