By SETH HYNES
Everest (M)
Starring: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson
EVEREST is a very well-crafted thriller based on tragic true events.
The film dramatises the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which two teams of mountaineers face deadly setbacks in their climb and descent.
This is one of those uncommon movies that is so solid, there’s relatively little to say about it.
Everest has simple but engaging characters, and the high-profile cast has enjoyable chemistry.
Despite the thin air, the atmosphere is raw and riveting, and the location shoots and environmental effects are breathtaking.
The film covers the nitty-gritty details of surviving on the mountain, but keeps up a good pace and avoids feeling like an info-dump.
This initial set-up, as the mountaineers acclimatise and learn of the risks, generates strong suspense, as you watch people you’ve come to like struggling and succumbing later on in the harsh conditions.
Moreover, Everest depicts the title mountain as perilous and unpredictable without resorting to the all too common disaster cliche of presenting it like a living creature.
Beck Weathers (played in the film by Josh Brolin), a lucky survivor of the expedition, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that Everest ‘basically runs me over’ and ’emotionally… takes me apart’.
This suggests a high level of authenticity in Everest’s re-telling of his harrowing experience.
Everest marks a high peak in the quality of recent Hollywood productions.
