By: Caden H. Hollander
This movie made me never want to climb anything ever. Everest is directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns) and stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and Jake Gylenhaal. The movie details the true story of the 1996 Everest disaster, which has been widely publicized. In the movie, a climbing expedition battles the worst weather in years in their attempt to climb Everest and return safely. Now, I saw the trailer for this film and was hooked. True story movies are usually well done, and the cast is absolutely fantastic. My expectations were for it to be a well-made film with solid performances, and some awesome climbing sequences. That being said, I had not previously seen any of Baltasar Kormakur's work, and his portfolio isn't necessarily jaw-dropping, so I was skeptical about the director. And despite all of the skepticism and excitement, I was blown away by this movie.
This movie made me never want to climb anything ever. Everest is directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns) and stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and Jake Gylenhaal. The movie details the true story of the 1996 Everest disaster, which has been widely publicized. In the movie, a climbing expedition battles the worst weather in years in their attempt to climb Everest and return safely. Now, I saw the trailer for this film and was hooked. True story movies are usually well done, and the cast is absolutely fantastic. My expectations were for it to be a well-made film with solid performances, and some awesome climbing sequences. That being said, I had not previously seen any of Baltasar Kormakur's work, and his portfolio isn't necessarily jaw-dropping, so I was skeptical about the director. And despite all of the skepticism and excitement, I was blown away by this movie.
The movie has an absolutely fantastic visual style, with sweeping cinematography and amazing panning shots over Nepal and Mount Everest. You can tell that the movie was filmed without CGI or green screen, because the environment feels so real. You are there on Everest trying to survive the storm. This is the best camera work I have seen all year, and it really adds to the story.
As for the acting, Jason Clarke is extremely good as the lead. His performance is heartfelt, and the viewer can get attached to his character. Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington and Jake Gylenhaal all are good as well, but there is no real stand-out performance because it is very much an ensemble film. Keira Knightley and Emily Watson are also fabulous. While I was worried about their talents being sidelined and just being there for name recognition, they really delivered. Both of them had emotional scenes and both gave their all to their roles in this film.
Everest is a film that I would absolutely recommend for nearly anyone. It is extremely intense, with edge-of-your seat awesome climbing scenes, beautiful cinematography and solid acting. It is also interesting to see what people go through when they attempt to climb a large mountain, such as Everest. While this is not an Oscar film (don't expect to see a Best Picture nom come January), it is still extremely well-made and a great movie, and deserves an A.