There’s a moment in most sports movies when you realize that you want the good guys to win. You want the heroes to beat the enemy. Take for instance the movie ROCKY. It doesn’t take long into the film, but you care for the title character enough to root for him no matter what happens. Try as it may, EVEREST never quite manages to make that same connection. Part of it might be because of the film and part of it might have to do with my own personal mental block, but I kept repeating the same thing to myself: these people are crazy. There is a certain level to crazy that you have inside of you to voluntarily climb a mountain in terrain and atmospheric conditions that are not meant for human life. There are moments throughout the film where we’re meant to connect with these “ordinary” people – one of them is a mailman, for goodness sake – but you can never gather enough energy to root for these crazy people that are willing to risk life and limb to climb a damn mountain. Most of the time you are left in awe of this stark mountain, waiting to see who the first will be to fall to its magnificence.
The year is 1996. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is a trained and experienced Mt. Everest tour guide. He’s an expert at training men and women to climb the mountain of all mountains. His new batch of climbers include, Doug (John Hawkes), Jon (Michael Kelly), Beck (Josh Brolin), and many others. Two other tour groups ascend the mountain at the same time, one of which is led by the laid-back and too cool for school Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal). Due in large part to the guidance and training from Rob, most of these men and women manage to reach the summit and stand victorious. However, a wave of storms suddenly hits the climbers creating a terrifying struggle between life and death as they make their descent down the mountain.
EVEREST is consistently breathtaking on IMAX screens and in 3D. It’s one thing to make you believe that the actors are going through these torrential and dangerous circumstances, but it’s quite another to pull the audience in. You often feel like you are right there with them -which actually says a lot considering that it really seems that these actors are suffering from hypothermia and frost bite. But that is actually part of the problem. Because the film feels so realistic, you are often left distracted and wondering how these well known actors survived these conditions, when you aren’t speculating if they are even going to survive the trip back down.
Director Baltasar Kormákur is an accomplished director (I really liked 2013’s 2 GUNS) and properly conveys the struggles inherent in the story. He gives Gyllenhaal, Brolin, and Clarke all room to create amiable characters. However, the story is transfixed with the idea of portraying these characters as just “normal” guys. It’s just that “normal” is not always engaging on-screen.
EVEREST is ultimately an endurance test not just for the characters in the film, but for the audience as well. By the end of the two hour runtime – 90 minutes of which is rather intense – I’d be shocked if you didn’t find yourself gasping for air. EVEREST is an exhilarating movie when you are caught in the moment. For thrill-seekers, there will be plenty to love. Still, I’m fascinated by those who seek out these adventures and risk their lives for a natural “high.” At the end of the day, my mind can’t quite admire the level of crazy that these individuals have to have in order to face almost certain death.
Overall rating: 3 out of 5
EVEREST opens in large format theaters Friday, September 18. It will then expand to regular theaters next week.
