"The last word always belongs to the mountain". It's
interesting that Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur has taken the helm for
the 3D mountain-climbing spectacle, Everest. Just a few years ago he tackled
another man vs. Mother Nature survival tale, The
Deep, depicting a true triumph of the human spirit over the elements.
Things aren't quite so rosy in Everest,
though; a film of literally high adventure, superhuman exploits, and
devastating loss. In depicting the sheer danger of the moment, the awe-inspiring
majesty of the mountain itself, the film is beyond reproach, but its
characterization of the men and women who risked all is slippery as Everest's
icy face.
Based on the tragic true events depicted
in author Jon Krakauer's book, Into
Thin Air (although other
material was used as well), the film centers on multiple 1996 expeditions to
scale Everest's summit. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is the man who helped turn such
expeditions into a profitable business, and those corporate concerns clash
mightily with the brutal reality of Mother Nature when she's all worked up.
Through brisk introductory setup we meet Rob's pregnant wife (Keira Knightley),
left behind to worry while he takes on one more climb. There's also 100% Texan
Beck Weathers (played by 100% Californian Josh Brolin); everyman Doug Hansen
(John Hawkes), who has tried to reach the summit twice and failed; Yasuko
Namba (Naoko Mori), a woman who has reached 6 of the world's 7 summits; and
Krakauer himself (Michael Kelly), documenting the journey. There are also a
trio of ladies, played by the incredibly talented Emily Watson, Robin Wright,
and Elizabeth Debicki, who are left behind to man the fort or just to worry.
They don't get a lot to do but are essential for drawing an emotional
connection, because there aren't many opportunities for that once the
expedition actually begins.
The mountain is, obviously, treacherous in
just about every respect. The weather conditions are unpredictable, every
movement or errant sound could trigger a landslide, and there are any number of
ways a person can die attempting something like this. "Human beings
simply aren’t built to function at the cruising altitude of a 747", Rob
informs the already-experienced team, all customers who paid a hefty sum to
reach the peak. But the real conflict, at least initially, isn't with the
mountain, it's with rival climbers leading similar expeditions. Long-haired
hippie Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) is leading one, while other groups make
for a crowded field. Tension mounts as climbers are forced to wait in sub-zero
temperatures while others go ahead of them, creating a potentially lethal
scenario. Not everyone has the experience, the concern, or the temperament Rob
has, either. If there's an undertone explored by screenwriters Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog
Millionaire) and William Nicholson (Unbroken) it's that Everest has
been shamelessly exploited as just another commercial product. In a way, it
undercuts the "Because it's there" gung-ho mentality of those who
dare climb the mountain. You can now buy an expedition to the top of Mt.
Everest like you buy a trip to Hawaii. Conversely, those in charge feel
obligated to get you to the summit because you are a paying customer who could
give them bad press. There's danger in that kind of compromise, one that Everest should have dug into further.
But that would take away from the IMAX 3D
escapade at hand, and this is a film that the format was designed for. It's
literally breath-taking to follow the aerial ascent, reaching heights up to
29000 feet where every gasp for air could be the last. It's true that the
mountain itself gets a far better treatment than the human characters as
Kormakur and DP Salvatore Totino impressively capture every jagged foot.
However, through all the thick fog and
snow the human drama gets buried, exacerbated by the inability to tell who is
who underneath all that massive gear. Basically, most of the climbers make the
summit, but a severe storm strikes soon after, rendering the journey home
nearly impossible. Everybody isn't going to make it back, and the deaths start
piling up quickly...perhaps too quickly. In an effort to be as authentic as
possible, the tragedy is shown with as little theatrics as possible. It may be
honest, it may be how things actually went down, but it makes for a low-key,
downbeat survival thriller when all is said and done. There's also a great deal
of confusion about the specifics of what actually doomed the climbers, so much
so that it may be wise to check the Wikipedia entry, or Krakauer's book, to
figure out what really happened. That's not to say the performance during these
scenes were bad, though. While this all-star cast don't get enough to build
fully formed characters around, individually Clarke, Gyllenhaal, Brolin,
Hawkes, and Kelly are great. It's just disappointing to not get more of a sense
into who these people were, especially Namba as the one woman in the group
attempting a record-breaking feat.
Ultimately, Everest succeeds in capturing the
experience, putting you right there thousands of feet in the air where no man
was meant to go. But like the air at that incredible height, the film is pretty
thin and never strives to be about anything in particular. There's no triumph
of the human spirit here, just endless tragedy.
Rating: 3 out of 5
