Everest

Review By: John Delia

The breathtaking beauty and the intense visuals combine to give you the thriller Everest, in IMAX. The movie tells the true story of climbers trying to reach the highest point on Earth above sea level and the tragedy that encompasses their dissent. Amazingly photographed, the movie is an artistic production of thrills and chills. Although the heartrending story provides the drama for the film, it’s the mountain and the climb that delivers the punch.

On May 10, 1996 several teams of climbers attempt to get to the top of Mount Everest. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) leads a group on behalf of Adventure Consultants that includes Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington) a fellow guide that has returned for another try to the top, Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) a Texas pathologist, Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) an ordinary working guy who was unsuccessful in reaching the top in 1995 and Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly) a journalist covering the climb for Outside Magazine. All are experienced climbers who have attempted other peaks. They have been instructed not to climb if Hall thinks it may be too dangerous and to turn back if the weather makes climbing difficult.

In another group Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) a guide for Mountain Madness along with fellow guides Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman follow with six other climbers. Included in the Mountain Madness group is Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) who climbed 6 of the 7 peaks of Everest. The two climbing groups band together at Camp 3 before heading for the summit.

Just before the final assent to the top, Hall gets notified that a storm will reached their area and has winds of high velocity and they have a short window to make the top and ascend in safety. Director Baltasar Kormakur takes his audience onto the mountain using high definition 3D cameras to film all the action. Using parts of Everest itself to shoot scenes he gets incredible views and realistic climbing sequences. His actors work through the shoots as if it were a real climb and it works to instill excitement mixed with danger.

Kormakur’s film has an all-star cast and he uses them well in climbing roles. However, the subplots add a little too much “Hollywood” that distracts rather than adds to the drama and the heartrending effects of the climb. Unable to bode well were the characters Dr. Jan Arnold as Rob Hall’s pregnant wife played by Kiera Knightly. Knightly’s character becomes too sappy and the cutaways take a lot of suspense away from the climbers. The second weak point comes from the character played by Robin Wright as Peach Weathers. She’s Beck’s wife back home in Dallas. She’s concerned that her injured husband will not be able to make the descent to the bottom so she uses her influence to have two pilots risk their lives in a daring rescue.

That said the making of Everest must have been a grueling task and for that I commend the actors and the crew for a top shelf effort. 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

Everest has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense peril and disturbing images. Please be cautious when deciding to allow immature pre-teens to watch the film. The IMAX 3D presentation is spectacular.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A thrilling production that gets tangled in subplots. (C+)