Adventure movies set on mountains are aplenty. You may remember Cliffhanger, Into Thin Air, Vertical Limit, K2 and lots more. It's quite difficult to keep the audience engaged with just a plot and film makers will use stunning visuals, accidents, tension and action to make a movie entertaining.
EVEREST portrays the real life incident of the tragedy in 1996 that resulted in the death of many mountaineers. To enjoy the movie you may choose to read a bit of this incident to get some background as it helps you understand the events. Or you may decide to watch it completely oblivious of the event or the tragedy.
The movie starts off at an average pace and gets the viewers familiarise themeselves with the characters. The mix of usual fun and portrayal of difficulties expected drags on and suddenly the climbers are all set to reach the summit. A short window of opportunity, an incoming storm and a delay at the Hillary Step sets up the stage for an action packed second stage. Add to it some tension between a few of the climbers and you know things are going to get difficult.
The movie portrays the cold and the difficulty in breathing very well. The coughing and the chill really get to you. As you watch it you are aware of your own breathing and the temperature of your room or theater will seem to drop. There is no over dramatization. The movie manages to build the characters of the actors well too. Robs character is well portrayed as caring and that leads to his downfall. Doug's desperation to reach the top is shown well. Yasuko comes across as strong willed. Helen plays the difficult role of being the coordinator and breaking bad news well. She comes across as a professional person with real emotions.
Overall the movie portrays the tragedy quite well. I'm still not sure why they needed to make another movie about the event. Some may find it repetitive. But of you do watch it read the book and read the discussions on imdb as this will help you understand the context well. I also feel they could have cut out some scenes and helped build up the storm and suspense a but more dramatically. This is definitely a movie worth watching. I rate it 8/10.
PS: I have reblogged this from my "Reviews by Ross" blog as blogjob may close down and has several technical issues now.
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