Everest review: Low on disaster set-pieces, Everest instead focusses on the characters, which is absolutely the correct move in this moving true story.
Everest review
Everest comes to the screen from director Baltasar Kormákur, the Icelandic filmmaker who made an impact on cinema with his debut 101 Reykjavík all of the way back in 200. Since then, Kormákur found has found his mainstream Hollywood footing, working alongside Mark Wahlberg on the films 2 Guns and Contraband. In Everest, the talented director has his most ambitious project yet.
Featuring an ensemble, supremely talented cast that includes Jason Clarke, Keira Knightly, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal, Everest revolves around a group of adventurers who are face the toughest, and indeed highest peak on the planet. Based on a true story, the film sees Clarke’s Rob Hall lead an elite group of people up the mountain, all of them having paid a huge $65,000 each for the opportunity. All goes well until an unforseen severe snow storm comes hurtling in, putting each and every one of the climber’s life at risk.
Everest review
Everest is written by Gladiator and Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom screenwriter William Nicholson, and Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the excellent screenplays for The Full Monty and Slumdog Millionaire. Producing is Working Title Films’ Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan who, with their experienced director, and high-profile ensemble cast, have brought a decent, though intensely harrowing drama to cinema screens. No more than 19 years following the event on which it is based, Kormákur and his team have crafted a deeply involving, deeply moving piece that doesn’t rely on set piece action sequences, or a Sylvester Stallone-type character dangling from a rope line (though one scene does come close), but focusses more on each character and their own individual story that brings them to climb to the most dangerous mountain in the world. While the film tells the majority of the story from the point of view of Jason Clarke’s character, the script doesn’t spend too much time on any one character.
Obviously taking a template from the disaster film mould, Everest manages to stay clear of glorifying or over-cooking the team’s situation. There are no cliches, and the film feels very real and immerses the viewer deep into the story that it is trying to tell, and still manages to grip and make the audience flinch at the unrelenting fury and power of Earth’s highest mountain.
Everest review
While it’s sometimes difficult to tell who’s who amongst the members of the team when the storm is at its peak, it’s a minor flaw in a film that wastes no time in setting itself up and really does involves its audience in the story from the opening scene. There’s not an ounce of fat in its fairly lengthy two-hour run-time.
The cast is excellent, with particularly good stand-outs from Jason Clarke, who seems intent on us forgetting this year’s Terminator Genysis, and Keira Knightley, who, while not in the film for very long at all, is at the heart of the story and involved in some of the most touching scenes.
Everest review
While this could be too intense for some (it has a very low 12A rating, which is surprising looking at the content), Everest is a solid drama that while low on cinematic thrills, will not have anyone who has seen it heading for Nepal anytime soon.
Everest review by Paul Heath, September 2015.
Everest is released in UK cinemas on Friday 18th September, and US cinemas on 25th September, 2015.
