Everest (2015), PG-13, ★★★

Jake Gyllenhaal is in almost everything...but he's not the star.

Mount Everest.

It is the Earth's highest mountain and presents critical dangers to every human being attempting to climb up and/or climb down. It is about above the peak of where the required amount of feet that a plane can fly in and there is not enough oxygen at that peak. Now, I am not an expert of mountain hiking but I had very few experiences of rock climbing but indoor rock climbing but this movie does not, by any means, persuade me to go climbing any time soon. The visual look of the film is a beauty and a sole testament to the film despite the running time of the film. But, nevertheless, it is an experience to watch in the theaters and witness what these people went through back in 1996.

Hundreds of professionals attempted to climb Mt. Everest and now results in one in four dying. In 1996, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), gathered his team, Adventure Consultants, to climb the big mountain. His team consists of experienced climber Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), and co-guide Andy Harris (Martin Henderson). Together, they begin to embark on what is hopefully a successful expedition to the top of Mount Everest.

Rob and his team are joined by the manager of the base camp, Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), and his co-worker Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington, where has he been since Avatar?). Rob explains to his team  that there are dangerous altitudes and temperatures on the Death Zone of Everest and hoped to get downhill as quickly as possible after the expedition has been completed. Before boarding the plane in an early scene, Rob says goodbye to his pregnant wife, Jan (Keira Knightley). She informs him that they will be having a girl.

Rob runs into Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), the leader of Mountain Madness, the second group. We, yet again, and the mountaineers are informed by the video of how the lack of oxygen will affect climbers as they will succumb to hypothermia and hypoxia. Beck calls his wife, Peach (Robin Wright), from the base camp sending a wishful anniversary message. They encounter much  interference regarding huge ice chunks breaking off, lack of oxygen tanks and falling ill to the very cold conditions. It forces some climbers to turn back downhill but then a huge blizzard is coming its way.

It's tough to get through the blizzard. 

The movie looks extraordinary to watch as we witness all of the mountaineers endure to coldest conditions possible. I cannot imagine myself going through with that because I like to encounter the views and sights without killing myself. But, with all respect, they are gutsy to go on this expedition to just enjoy the experience but there has to be some consequences and sacrifices. Many of these true stories regarding disasters like the underrated Perfect Storm had interesting characters who do what they do best or like but had something interfere their reality and maybe they did what they did as it is worth dying for. It is not like those entertaining disaster films like Independence Day, Deep Impact or The Day After Tomorrow.

There are too many characters in this film that we want to care about and should have narrowed down to some characters. I thought Jason Clarke's character should have been supporting and it should have been more about Josh Brolin's character more because he had a more unbelievable story. We understand Rob's motive to go back down but we needed more information, so, I guess it is a thankless role for him and Keira Knightley because we know his motive to return to his wife. There's not much for John Hawkes to do nor for Emily Watson, Robin Knight or Jake Gyllenhaal. But, what we see, overall, is a bonding experience to get to know each other and to try to survive what might have been heaven on Everest but it is actually frozen hell.

Despite a myriad of characters that we follow and it was a struggle, at times, to see what each character is up to, the film, directed by Baltasar Kormakur and shot brilliantly by cinematographer Salvatore Torino, is an experience to conceive of all the clear white snow in the first half and a beast of a storm that causes pain for both the climbers and the people below in their camps and at home. It is a thin narrative and it turns grim because it is based on a true story and we want to sympathize with the characters and their families, but I'm recommending the movie because of the visuals, the natural spectacle, the performances and some of the drama that is there in the second half.

***