EVEREST
Universal Pictures
Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes.
Grade: C
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Written by: William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy
Cast: Jason Clarke, Keira Knightly, Josh Brolin,Mia Goth, Charlotte Bøving, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson
Screened at: AMC 34th St., NYC, 9/15/15
Opens: September 25, 2015
If you define extreme sports as any activity that could result in death, boxing and football should be included. But since the chance of serious injury leading to death in those sports is minimal, we prefer to limit our definition to those that could result in the immediate demise of its proponents. Think of Philippe Petit’s crossing the World Trade Center towers on August 7, 1974, or of Robbie Knievel traversing the Grand Canyon on his bike on May 20, 1999, or of Nik Wallenda who followed Knievel on June 24, 2013. Going back, there’s Matthew Webb’s crossing of the English Channel on August 25, 1875, the first to go from England to France without artificial buoyancy.
Certainly the sport of climbing MountEverest is an extreme sport, and Baltasar Kormákur’s movie deals with middle-aged sportsmen who actually did die while taking part in their activities. The action gets a narrative from William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy’s script and can be seen in IMAX 3-D, a controversial format (dark, klutzy glasses) designed to put theater audiences on the world’s highest peak while sitting comfortably in our seats. The Iceland-born director’s résumé includes “Contraband” (a former smuggler heads to Panama to score millions in counterfeit dollars) and “2 Guns” (criminals in trouble with the U.S. border patrol). Kormákur finds melodrama once again though this time there is no criminal activity. Instead, his “Everest” tracks two rival groups who for some odd reason feel a need to compete for who will lead in setting foot on the world’s tallest peak, 28,000+ feet or about five miles up, where the air is life-threatening thin and the storms even worse.
There is no central character in “Everest.” Instead, the film, while giving full screening time to the groups, centers on Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), a professional leading a group; Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) who climbs when he is not delivering mail; rival team leader Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal); and through-and-through Texan Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin). Since the movie is based on a true story written up by Outside magazine journalist Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), we know that while some will ascend to the top of the world, sturm und drang notwithstanding, others will die. Since this film is a blockbuster, we know that it will be boldly filmed and will include both sentimental phone calls between some climbers and their wives back home (the women, played by Robin Wright as Weathers’ wife Peach, and Keira Knightley as Jan Arnold, Rob Hall’s wife), the women holding their breath despite the normal air pressure in their home towns wondering whether they will ever see their men again.
The dream of conquering Everest is as old hat as space ships to the moon and rockets sent to form satellites. There was considerable excitement in the world when attempts were made as early as 1921 abandoned because of bad weather and illnesses of the climbers, but conditions did not bother Kiwi Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reaching the top on May 29, 1953. But now that over 2300 people have made it to the top, their adventures could provoke a yawn. Watch as some climbers return for lack of oxygen (at the summit Everest has only 1/3 of the air at sea level, causing nausea and dizziness) and others die, while at least one sportsman who is expected to die survives by digging out of the snow and forcing himself to walk to base camp.
“Everest” is exquisitely photographed as you might expect—like a National Geographic thriller—though the excitement generated by the cinematographer is attenuated by those pesky 3-D goggles. Yet the film is overlong even at two hours (if you think that’s bad, consider how you’ll feel while watching “The Martian,” also in pesky 3-D). And the banter among the men and one brave woman, Yasuko (Naoko Mori) is tiresome. What we come away with, then, is a clunky narrative and generic wife-husband sentimentality, both of which militate against the movie’s shaking us up emotionally.
Rated PG-13. 121 minutes. © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – C-
Acting – C+
Technical – A
Overall – C
