Everest (2015) Reviews

• Worth watching but could have been lots better

  fffuuuuu2015-09-24

  I think the main problem with this movie is a loose focus. It seems like they tried to make a disaster, drama and documentary stories at the same time but failed to develop any of that properly. But the good things first: stunning scenery, overall tension and a few really great scenes make this movie worth watching without a doubt. It is just somehow not working as a single piece. With a fast start you expect some eventful action to follow but there's nothing like that. The characters developing is limited to a couple of sentences excluding Rob Hall and Beck Weathers what makes others a little more than forgettable 'guys who die first'. For some reason, Scott Fisher, being a smart capable mountaineer is shown as a careless hippie-like person, Anatoli Boukreev as a cliché tough Russian playing garmon in a tent, Beck Weathers as a hardly-realistic guy from Texas. But it doesn't matter anyways as when the masks put on it's really hard to follow who is who and and their position on the mountain, especially on descending. The whole day of May 11 is clumsy and hardly could be learned from the movie, on the summit the story switches to Rob completely and gets distractingly touchy-feely then slowly turning into the aftermath. The drama feels a bit out of place when other participants dying with little or no attention. I was disappointed. The most vivid scene of the movie turned out to be shown in the trailer (crevasse ladder). Another Beck Weathers scene was really powerful too, but otherwise I didn't feel the pressure of surviving, the height itself (the stormy clouds could be seen from 2000 as well), an incredible effort to even try to step on that track. Andre Bredenkamp writes about Everest climb: "You get completely disorientated. I had to keep reminding myself I was climbing a mountain. Every step of the way I had to try to motivate myself. At that altitude I took at least 10 to 15 breaths each time I moved one foot." So if you really want to feel the height I would rather recommend to read the books about that night as this movie failed to show it properly.

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• No good guys, no bad guys, just the facts as they are known

  thegreatape2015-09-15

  I always find my viewing experience of the retelling of historical events ruined when I come across scenes which I know have been added for dramatic effect or when someone is played as a bad guy just to let us know who to root for. The King's Speech was particularly guilty of the former, the portrayal of other teams in Glory Road had the latter, and The Imitation Game was shamelessly guilty of both. I'm not saying this made them bad films, but it certainly made me feel like the experience had strayed away from a retelling of the facts as known. Everest is everything that is good in such a film. There is no needless good v evil addition and no leading the viewer to conclusions. It tells the story and I have since spent three or four days thinking about the hows, whys and wherefores... whilst knowing I will never find an answer. The other touch that really elevates this film is that there are no added action sequences that have been added to make Everest more of an action move. The film makers have been intelligent enough to realise that climbing Everest does not need any exaggeration, the characters involved were three dimensional people, and the story was interesting enough not to need embellishment. I expected an action film but left pleasantly surprised by a biopic with a light touch. The one mark deduction is for the totally unnecessary 3D. The film absolutely didn't need me wearing dumb glasses to be three dimensional.

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• Good movie, Great theatre experience

  jackgradis2015-09-02

  Got the chance to see Everest early in IMAX 3D. I'll start off by saying this, if you get the chance, definitely see this movie in IMAX. It adds to the experience and you feel like your on the mountain. That aside, let's dive into one of my most anticipated films of the year. Everest is chalk full of star power. Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, the list goes on. Everyone is believable in this hostile environment, going from optimistic and adventurous to mortified and forced to fight for their lives. Each character is given a back story, some more drawn out and centered than others, and you get attached to most but not all of them. When the emotional blows hit, they hit hard for some, but not as much for others. The visuals are, as you might have guessed, stunning. The shots they get of climbers and the way the camera gives you an an idea of how dangerous this is are breath taking. The cinematography is definitely award worthy. IMAX only added to it, putting you in this environment and taking you along for the ride. This film really did it for me because I have always been fascinated by Everest and the journey it is to make it up to the top and back. If there is a Netflix documentary about Everest, I've watched it. I even watched the one about the story told in this movie. What this film does so well is it immerses you into the environment as well as gives you characters to care about. It's all tied in well together. At times, the pace is a bit slower than expected and the tones shifts from serious to light hearted are a bit messy. But that stuff doesn't bother you in the moment, your just wrapped up in the intensity of the story. Overall, Everest gave me exactly what I wanted. It was intense, emotionally powerful, and the visuals were beautiful. It's not perfectly structured, but it sure is engaging. As someone who has studied the mountain, this offers a brutal look into how much time and energy is out into a trip to Everest, and how quickly things can go wrong. Definitely worth a trip to the theatre.

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• Wish it were better

  gmd4462-623-529262015-09-26

  Like the real mountain, this movie is stunning to look at but a little painful to watch. I kept longing for the voice-over guy from The Deadliest Catch to chime in with some compelling back story about the characters or the situation, just to ramp up the tension a little. We don't get much time to get to know the characters; most of their lines are designed mainly to give us information rather than developing their individual personalities. We are left with archetypes: the Loudmouth Texan, the Humble Mailman, the Brash Adventurer, the Careful Tour Guide, the Taciturn Journalist. And then there's the annoying Keira Knightly, on hand with her squeaky mouse voice and her runny nose, to make sure everyone in the audience has a good cry. I wish the movie had been more about Rob Hall--his hubris and his heroism is really the heart and soul of this story. But you can't have everything in two hours, can you?

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• It's got more sting than one may think

  Rickting2015-12-26

  Everest looked like a generic disaster movie made purely for the big screen in the trailers. Not so. It tells the true story of a disastrous climbing expedition which took place in 1996. Since this is a true story, there's less room for the emotional manipulation and over the top set pieces which would have been expected. The film admirably follows the true story faithfully and doesn't sensationalize events. The way in which the film was marketed was misleading. There isn't as much action as the posters and trailers suggested. It's more of a realistic survival story than a big scale disaster flick. As a result, some may leave the theatre disappointed. Everest is an unexpectedly solid movie, but it certainly has its problems. There are definitely moments where the film loses your attention a bit, while a lot of the character deaths aren't given enough impact and seem rushed. In some ways, the part involving the climb to the top is more enjoyable than the slightly underdeveloped and occasionally rushed second half focusing on the disaster. Still, this will surprise you. It's a tense movie rather than a really thrilling one, which is a pleasant surprise and shows the film's maturity and restraint. Despite the many characters, they are all developed enough to sympathise with. It's got a very good cast for a disaster movie, and they all give good performances. Even Keira Knightly and Sam Worthington are bearable. The film's big surprise is its emotional impact. This is a tragic story with one of the best- and saddest- final shots of the year. Not everyone makes it out alive. As a result, it's not as forgettable as it looked from the marketing. The direction is pretty good as well and doesn't show off the visuals, instead focusing on the suspense and the characters. Obviously it's not full of really developed characters, but not every film can be so that's not a problem. Everest is a solid, satisfactory survival film with a strong cast, tense set pieces and a surprise emotional punch, although it feels somewhat rushed despite it's 2 hour runtime. 7/10

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