Everest Review (2015)

Everest

  Let me start out by saying that the marketing for this film is a bit misleading. Why, you ask? Because the first trailer marketed it as a Jake Gyllenhaal film when in actuality it is a Jason Clarke film. I can understand why they'd do this with all of the momentum Gyllenhaal has picked up after Nightcrawler and Southpaw, but considering he only has a few lines in the movie it was a bit disappointing to me as a fan. In most cases, I wouldn't complain about there being a big ensemble cast of A-list actors, but here it seemed so unnecessary. Keira Knightly was another example of a miscast character. All she did was sit on a bed and cry the whole movie. Any actress could have done that.

  Anyway, moving on to the actual content of the film. Right off the bat, the characters were all developed pretty well. The ones you were supposed to care about, you did, and the ones you weren't supposed to care about, you didn't. This is half the battle with disaster type movies, so I'd say well done in those regards. Another good thing was the visuals which really were breathtaking! Seeing the contrast of Tibet and the mountain and then back to regular life with the character's families was really beautifully done. 

  My problem with the film doesn't lie with the execution or the characters, but with the true story itself. It was hard for me to feel sympathy for people who did such dangerous, reckless things. It's not like they are the victim of some crazy disaster that couldn't have been avoided, these people put themselves in a bad situation and literally paid 65,000 dollars to be there. For me, I questioned why the movie needed to be made in the first place when the story, though historical, doesn't really have any redeeming qualities. It wasn't life-affirming like 2012's The Impossible, it wasn't inspiring like 2010's 127 Hours, it just left me feeling unsatisfied and by the end I was asking myself "Is this it?" I wanted the movie to have a point, but it didn't. For that reason, I'd give it a 6 out of 10 stars. (Worth Ticket Price) Go see it for the visuals.