Everest (2015) Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Naoko Mori, Simon Harrison, Keira Knightley Movie Review

Everest (2015)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Everest (2015)

The Climb

Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and Sam Worthington star in this adventure thriller directed by Baltasar Kormákur. The film tells the story of the 1996 climbing expedition in which two groups, led by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), attempted to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Although the two groups had plentiful experience and had trained to deal with the adverse conditions and low oxygen levels that are present at such a high altitude, nothing could prepare them for the freak storm which hit during the expedition..

I've watched a few movies about mountain climbing and to be honest most of them have fallen short from really bringing to life the different aspects of the experience, not that I have had any real experience of the mountain climbing shown in "Everest". But "Everest" does a fantastic job of delivering that experience by showing us the various elements especially during the build up as we see life at the various camps, the roles each people play, the issues between various tours using the same routes and of course the dangers, if you think climbing a ladder is scary think about walking over one which is suspended over a precipice.

As such "Everest" undoubtedly delivers an impressive visual experience with scenes up on various levels which, whilst I am confident when I say CGI was used for some of it, is so realistic it blows you away. And part of the reason for it being so stunning is because director Baltasar Kormákur doesn't just rely on the stunning visuals to entertain, he gives us characters which have depths, friendships which we can connect to and of course the various dramas which happen in this dramatisation of a tragic true story.

But that is where I get to tell you what the best part of "Everest" is and that is when the drama unfolds as a huge storm comes and we have various characters stranded at various points. The sense of danger, of loss, the out pouring of emotion as friends rally around in such a dire, desperate situation it takes the movie to the next level. And let me tell you now that I didn't expect "Everest" to do what it did but it made me cry and I imagine I am not the only one because it does something so many movies neglect these days; it gives us characters, relationships and people who the audience engage with, who we quickly grow to like and feel like we have known them a life time.

What this all boils down to is that "Everest" is not just a good movie, it borders on being a great movie as whilst it gives us that great visual cinematic experience it delivers some on a more personal, character base level which makes it so much more, so engaging with the audience.


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