Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur has had a pretty smooth transition to Hollywood, something that isn't always easy to do. His first two American films were Contraband and 2 Guns, which nobody would exactly call high-art, but they made a lot of money and that buys some pretty big opportunities. Still, his greatest achievement, at least in my humble opinion, remains his Icelandic survival film, The Deep, and now with the mountain climbing thriller Everest he returns to telling that kind of story, only in true blockbuster fashion.
The first Everest trailer ha arrived and everything about this is huge. Not only the dazzling effects, but the incredible cast consisting of Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightly, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Michael Kelly, and Elizabeth Debicki. The film is based on the tragic 1996 expedition to the top of Mount Everest that saw multiple climbers from two competing teams perish. So don't expect to see everybody make it to the top of this particular mountain.
Obviously the focus here is on the danger of their climb; the swirling winds, the icy conditions, and so forth. All of that reminds me of the incredible 2008 film, North Face (my favorite film of that year), and Everest looks like it could reach those same heights. Everest hits theaters on September 8th, a fall date that should inspire confidence this is more than just another studio project.
