Everest
Dir: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Emily
Watson, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, and Jake Gyllenhaal
121 Minutes
Universal Pictures
There are many things in nature that display the inadequacy
of humans, still the daunting Mt. Everest seems to be on a completely different
level altogether. Just thinking about the massive size of a mountain that sits
five and half miles above sea level is amazing. So why would anyone want to
climb this mountain that consistently takes the lives of people that try to
conquer it? In director Baltasar Kormákur’s action/adventure film “Everest” the
answer is simply “because it’s there”. With impressive technical flair and a
cast of fantastic actors, “Everest” is in a great position to meet the
expectations of finally making a superior film about the immense mountain.
Unfortunately, a disconnection in the narrative with the characters makes the film lack some of the emotional substance associated with the real events
that the story is based on.
Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is a guide for an adventure company
that takes paying climbers to the summit of Everest. In the spring of
1996 Hall brought a group of experienced climbers to Everest. Along for the
journey was a mailman named Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) who unsuccessfully attempted
the ascent once before, a well-to-do first timer from Texas named Beck Weathers
(Josh Brolin), a woman named Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) who had climbed six of
the seven highest summits in the world, and another veteran climber guiding his
own group named Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal). Challenged by inclement
weather conditions and overpopulation along the paths on the mountain, the
doomed expedition took the lives of eight people.
“Everest” is visually striking, it’s breathtaking at times
how good much of the computer generated effects look. The camera hovers,
glides, and swoops all around the climbers throughout many of the treacherous
scaling montages in the film. The composition of many different scenes does a
great job of displaying the vast scale of Everest by showing miniscule dots of
people moving gradually up the side of the mountain. It’s a perspective that
works to establish the risks of the challenge, making the scenes feel far more
dangerous than they otherwise might look. It’s all technically well achieved,
but special effects are just one of the elements that help make this film come
to life, unfortunately there is something missing.
The narrative builds this expedition up Everest the same way
a sports movie would show how the team comes together to win the championship.
While all the climbers may not get along, the journey requires them to work
together as a team, to support one another in order to stay alive. Initially
the group dynamics work to display a camaraderie that reaches beyond the obvious
gender and racial divides that many films like this fall into portraying,
instead “Everest” composes these ambitious people as a unique breed of thrill
seekers who understand each other completely without actually having to explain
the complicated reasons. The line, “because it’s there”, means something wholly
unique to them, something only they can understand. Unfortunately this quality
is only barely examined and once the trudge up the mountain begins it
completely disappears amidst the wind and snow making the tragic events have
far less of a emotional component as it should have. This is unfortunate
because the exceptionally talented cast could have easily made a better
narrative, displaying the complicated mindset of these kinds of athletes and the
relationship they have to the challenge that could kill them, resonate with more
emotion.
“Everest” is a beautiful film to watch, one that portrays the
intimidating and daunting nature of one of the world’s most amazing natural
wonders. Unfortunately the complicated character elements that motivate humans
to conquer this feat are missing, making “Everest” a success in style but a
disappointment in substance.
Monte’s Rating
3.25
out of 5.00
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