“Human-beings simply aren’t built to function, at the cruising altitude of a 747” – Rob Hall (Jason Clarke)
Based on the harrowing, monumental true events of the May 1996 disaster, Baltasar Kormákur’s stunning biographical drama tells the story of two expedition groups’ summit and survival attempts amid the ever changeable, hostile environments that lay in wait, along the South Col route to the roof of the world – on Everest.
When you take a true-life script penned by two Brits, and then task a seasoned Icelander to direct, you can be well assured it won’t turn out like any of your typical Hollywood disaster movies – so for anyone with a few linger doubts that it’ll merely be 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow at 29,000ft, don’t worry. Its far from it.
Although the film doesn’t quite match the lofty intensity of the IMAX experience that Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar delivered, it comes incredibly close. So much so so that, throughout, the visuals are frequently so immersive that it pushes you as close to the verge as is humanly possible, truly feeling like you’re not just looking at a cast of actors, with the aid of a goliath camera, but you’re actually there, traversing the treacherous mountain passes and crossing over crevasses, with them.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQVpPiOji0&w=560&h=315]
Although during filming in Italy’s Otztal Alps, various members of both the cast and crew were subjected to bouts of acute mountain sickness – even after many had trained at lower altitudes in preparation – it most certainly didn’t affect their performances once the camera was rolling. The classy ensemble, spearheaded by Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Josh Brolin, deliver a series of consummately compelling portrayals, imparting both collective and individual auras of astute authenticity – drawing in the audiences’ empathy with proficient poise.
However, as with many films in recent years, the compulsory 3D element of Everest’s presentation is, when displayed in glorious IMAX at least, more of a detriment to the ultra realistic nature of the visuals. Although it serves to accurately emphasise the true scale of the focus characters’ surrounding in each frame, it is at times vaguely clunky, enough so that it detracts from the encapsulating experience that could have most likely been achieved with relative ease due the piece’s excellent exhibit of effects on show.
Rating: 8/10
Words by Alex Graham