EVEREST (2015) - ♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Baltasar Kormakur

Written by - William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy

Starring - Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emili Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Jake Gyllenhaal

"EVEREST is a spectacular survival film based on the true events of a 1996 expedition in which two groups, headed to the top of Mount Everest, encounter a sudden worsening fo weather conditions and end up caught in a blizzard. 

BALTASAR KORMAKUR's film is defined by some truly breathtaking special effects and visuals that make the action all the more heart stopping. Its overall appeal is supported by other elements that differentiate it from similar others. One of these is the fact that the characters are all more or less ordinary people. Another is that there is no one character dominating the narrative. While there are some that get more screen time than other, attention is paid to a more collective examination of the psychological and personal reason of what leads such men and women to battle against the laws of nature knowing the perils they might be facing along the way. 

The quality in the dialogue is lacklustre, and makes the film's dwellings into melodrama slightly too obviously detatched. The challenge, however, comes from the choice to employ a straight forward narrative arch that sees the unfolding of events in chronological order without resorting to narration or flashbacks, a choice that works wonders in terms of build up of suspense and excitement."

Action, UK/USA/Iceland