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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Everest

EVEREST (Baltasar Kormákur). 121 minutes. Rating: NNN

Where to watch:iTunes


If you’re going to see Everest, IMAX 3D is the way to go. Director Baltasar Kormákur knows his way around the digitally fabricated high-altitude terrain, swooping in on cliffhanger scenarios and bringing us dizzyingly close to the edge, to vertigo, to something worthwhile.

Yet for all the jagged, majestic vistas and intense standoffs with nature, Everest has a difficult time finding its dramatic peaks. We’re invited to take in the spectacle but left emotionally cold by the tragic death of eight climbers in 1996 due to terrible weather, some regrettable decisions and overcrowding.

The movie is similarly crowded, and star-studded, in an attempt to do justice to the many faces who ascended the Himalayan mountain and those who didn’t return. Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sam Worthington play tour leaders. Josh Brolin and John Hawkes are among their customers. An actor’s celebrity is no indication of whether a character lives or dies.

The approach is truly democratic and also mindful of all the competing concerns that collided to create the perfect storm for disaster. Unfortunately, our investment in any individual is sacrificed. The mountain itself remains the most stubbornly compelling force – having the last word, as one climber suggests early on. Everyone is simply flattened in its presence.

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