Review: Everest

Everest

   This movie was cool.  I saw it almost two weeks ago - and I have since seen a much better movie (The Martian), so it will be a bit difficult for me to recall what made this movie good.  I maintain, however, that Everest is a good movie even though The Martian is better in my opinion.

   Jason Clarke in a leading role is always a good thing.  I think he's from Australia, but in this movie he and several of the other actors play professional climbing guides out of New Zealand.

   The thing about this movie is that it's based on a true story, and from what I can tell it sticks to the real story pretty darn well.  The actual events are pretty amazing and quite sad.  This makes the movie equal parts amazing and sad.  Watching it, you really get a good feel that these characters (portraying actual people) were really fighting for their lives and giving it their all.  As a story of human triumph and hope this movie is pretty unparalleled.

   The basic rundown is that Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) has created guided climbing tours of Mt. Everest (in 1992) and now it's become a full blown industry with other companies forming to do the same thing.  And in this summer (1996) there are something like three to five different teams, each leading their own clients to the top of Mt. Everest.

   The movie does a fantastic job of demonstrating the seriousness of the undertaking to climb Mt. Everest, and an even better job giving the viewer a good working knowledge of the basic geography of the mountain itself - very useful when the storm hits and all the characters are spread across the mountain.  This made it much easier to follow the action and not have to stop and think about what I was watching or who I was watching and knowing what each character needed to do to get out of danger.

   In the end it is sad.  Because it's a true story and not everyone made it back down the mountain.  But more than that it is a very effective story of hope and of normal, real human beings overcoming insane obstacles.  I don't know if people still do guided tours of Everest, but this movie gives the viewer a healthy respect for everyone that has ever climbed Everest.

      Big Shot Critic