The visuals are what make this movie, the wide shots of Everest are magnificent and literally sent chills up my spine. The cinematography is also done in such a way that the audience really gets a feel for the scale of the mountain to make it seem bone-chillingly high. There are also some amazing shots over crevasses that would give even the best person vertigo, I saw it in 3D as well which only heightened the experience with great depth and crispness to the picture.
The CGI also blends into the movie seamlessly and not once did I question the legitimacy of what I was seeing, be it the peak of Everest or a gigantic snowstorm.
Most of the actors do a good job as well conveying the hardships that one has to go though to actually climb that monster with the best performance given by Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, W). He really convinced me that he was this ageing guy who probably wasn't in the best shape to climb Everest and he dealt with the emotional parts well.
Another surprise performance was from Jason Clarke (Terminator: Genysis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) who I'm not normally a fan of but I thought he handled the part of the group leader Rob very well and was really believable as a man that puts his whole being into keeping these people safe on the mountain.
There were however some not-so good performances in it. Mainly Emily Watson as Helen Wilton, at no point throughout the movie was she convincing, especially during the emotional climax as she spoke with really fake emotional tones in her voice. It was like mediocre stage acting for most of her performance.
Another disappointment came from Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Southpaw), not because he was bad in the part, because he never is, but more down to the fact that his character was quite one-dimensional. In fact this is a problem that most of the characters share, while their motivations are clear they never cross the realm from movie character to a real people, which is quite ironic as it is true story.
I think this is down to the fact that it focuses on so many people, if it had cut down the main characters to about 4 or 5 they could have been a lot more developed making my emotional attachment to them stronger.
Another complaint with this movie, is that since most of it is just set in snow the visuals, whilst spectacular, do get a bit too samey towards the end which subsequently make the movie feel about quarter of an hour too long and a bit fatiguing. The score didn't do too much to help either. While it wasn't bad it just wasn't memorable either and just blended into the film instead of standing out.
Overall I think that Everest is a well shot and respectfully made biopic/thriller that is worth a watch in cinemas in 3D for the visuals alone but its not something worth buying on Blu-ray or DVD.
Hope you enjoyed another review guys, not sure what my next post will be about, comments with ideas would be useful. Thanks.
-Joe
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