{"id":2047,"date":"2015-09-24T03:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T03:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bryanbuser.com\/365moviesbyday\/?p=2047"},"modified":"2022-01-09T03:52:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T03:52:59","slug":"everest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/365moviesbyday.bryanbuser.com\/everest\/","title":{"rendered":"Everest (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know I am in a significant minority when I review this movie, and I know many will wonder what I’m talking about.\u00a0Everest\u00a0<\/i>just wasn’t a very good movie. I realize that many have never seen a mountain climbing movie or, worse, have only the likes of\u00a0Vertical Limit<\/em>\u00a0to compare it to. But before I get too far into my review of\u00a0Everest<\/em>, let me mention a few mountain climbing movies that I would watch a dozen times again before forcing myself to watch\u00a0Everest<\/em>. The most notable one to me is a recent one that most people have never heard of. Depending on who you ask, it’s 2008 (or 2010) German released\u00a0North Face (Nordwand)<\/a><\/em>. It takes a few minutes to get past the subtitles, but it’s worth it. This movie is horrifying in its detail of its climbers experiencing some of nature’s most brutal physical elements. There is also\u00a0Touching the Void<\/em>. There is also\u00a0K2<\/em>. Heck, I think I’d even put\u00a0Cliffhanger<\/em>\u00a0up there as a more entertaining movie. And while it’s not about reaching any sort of summit, the absolute best climbing-based film is the fantastic\u00a0127 Hours<\/a><\/em>, one of the best two hours you can experience with a film (side note…watch the director’s cut). But as far as\u00a0Everest<\/em>\u00a0goes, I had extraordinarily high hopes for this film. And it disappointed on just about every level.
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I could dig into all of the problems I had with this film. I will do that shortly. The only real positive was Jason Clarke (Terminator Genisys<\/a>,\u00a0Lawless<\/a><\/em>). It was good seeing him in a believable role where he played a truly good guy. His portrayal as the warmhearted, rational founder of Adventure Consultants, a company that charges $65,000 a head to get its clients from the base of Everest to the summit. The New Zealand mountaineer helps bring the idea of turning Everest into an adult fantasy camp for the rich. It’s the most challenging climb in the world and, in 1996 – when this film takes place, only a small number of people had successfully reached the apex. There is only about a two-week window each year when climbers realistically have a chance of completing the trip before conditions force them to turn around. And with each year, more and more companies with more and more clients promising customers a complete and safe voyage. And as Rob Hall (Clarke) points out, there are too many groups and people for the mountain to handle at once. There is too much human traffic. But he seems to be the only voice of reason. He’s completed the voyage before, whereas just about everyone else has not. They are blinded by the opportunity to accomplish something most people can only dream of, and there will be no denying them. In addition to his loving wife Jan (Keira Knightley –\u00a0The Imitation Game<\/a>, Pride and Prejudice<\/em>), he has the complete support of his team.<\/p>\n

One of those dreaming of reaching the summit is Texan pathologist Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin-\u00a0W, Milk<\/em>), a man pushing 50 who is determined to make it to the top. Beck, who proudly states that he is 100% Texan, talks a big game and comes across as not macho tough guy, but a guy beaming with confidence. However, an underlining layer with him dates back to his college days when he dealt with some depression issues. Climbing had always been an escape. So Beck appears to have a hard outer shell while at the same time using the sport to protect himself from the darker days of his life. Like most of the characters in the film, it was hard to get an accurate read on him. Character development was not a strong suit in this film. On top of that, it wasn’t easy to distinguish the characters from one another when they were all dressed in their gear. Finally, there were too many characters to follow in this regard. The mountain felt like the lead character in this movie, and the humans felt secondary. This brings me back to Brolin’s character. Once the real climb began, I couldn’t get a read on his importance versus the others. There was far too much back and forth between the different groups during the climb. I was losing interest in the film before this, but I started to feel lost and started to lose interest. At that point, I did all I could to avoid looking at my phone every five minutes to figure out when this “action-packed drama” would come to a close.<\/p>\n

Finally, Scott (Jake Gyllenhaal –\u00a0Southpaw<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Nightcrawler<\/a><\/em>) is a lead climber for a rival company of Rob’s. Scott and Rob have a little history together, but they generally respect each other, especially when you see some of the factions that develop between other companies. Scott is a Mr. Happy Go Lucky type of guy who respects the mountain but shows no fear when in the presence of others. He’s a likable enough guy, but I’m not sure why it’s Gyllenhaal in this role. It literally could have been anybody. His acting was serviceable, but I felt like his character got as many scenes as he did because of the actor playing him. Likewise, John was a minor character made into a more important one because of Gyllenhaal. But, again, that’s no fault of Jake. I would have gotten him as much screen time as possible if I were directing the movie. But it just doesn’t work here. There are already too many characters, and I think this is the one who could have been dropped.<\/p>\n

Wasted in this movie was Knightley. She had three or four scenes…all away from the action. Seriously, Keira, why are you in this movie? The same can be said for Robin Wright (Rampart<\/a>,\u00a0Moneyball<\/a><\/em>), who, like Knightley, played a wife of one of the climbers and who, like Knightley, was regulated to scenes with a telephone in her hands. As for\u00a0Gyllenhaal, he’s beyond being a side character in a moneymaking adventure movie at this point in his career. Yes, it’s a different role than what he has recently portrayed. But his character was so underdeveloped and underutilized that there wasn’t a need to include him at all. I think he added to the confusion more than anything else.\u00a0Gyllenhaal is at the point of his career where he can be more selective. He’s got many more Academy Award nominations ahead of him in his career, but those opportunities will become more and more limited if he keeps spending his time in roles like this.<\/p>\n

The trailers make this movie look great, and I honestly believed this would be a masterpiece.\u00a0Perhaps I was expecting too much from Baltasar Korm\u00e1kur (2 Guns<\/a>, Contraband<\/em>). This movie needed a more accomplished director. I would have liked this movie a lot more in the right hands. While I wasn’t a massive fan of this particular story, I do like a good adventure movie, and this one certainly had a backdrop that piqued my interest. The budget was there. The cast was there. At times, you’re dazed by the star power this film brings, and maybe this is a movie where you don’t need more than one star. While Clarke isn’t quite a household name yet, he may have been enough. Perhaps not. Perhaps it was the stars that drew people to this movie. I don’t know. I just felt that they weren’t needed.\u00a0Everest<\/em>\u00a0was about as forgettable as any I saw in 2015 because of how unattached I was to the characters and how motionless\u00a0I felt the story to be.<\/p>\n

I would encourage you to skip this movie and see\u00a0North Face (Nordwand)<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>instead. I realize I am probably in the minority in my feelings of\u00a0Everest<\/em>, but this movie should have been much better in just about every regard.<\/p>\n

Plot 7\/10
\nCharacter Development 6\/10
\nCharacter Chemistry 6\/10
\nActing 6\/10
\nScreenplay 7\/10
\nDirecting \u00a06\/10
\nCinematography 10\/10
\nSound 7\/10
\nHook and Reel 6\/10 (the beginning was good…but I quickly tuned out…and then couldn’t wait to get out of there)
\nUniversal Relevance 8\/10 (movies based on true stories usually get the benefit of the doubt)
\n69%<\/p>\n

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