Everest

Films based on extreme challenges, whether they be natural, self-induced, or in a horrific crash i.e. car, train, airplane, or ship, can and does keep us on the edge of our seats and is great fodder for a harrowing story or premise. Films such as "Twister", "The Poseidon Adventure", "Airport", "Vertical Limit", the recent "San Andreas", etc., all give us that adrenaline rush to see how long the screenwriter can keep us dangling on that string. But as the aforementioned could've happened, "Everest" did happen. There have been many expeditions up that mountain starting in 1953, but this story of survival happened back in 1996.

On March 30,1996, two separate climbing teams both headed up by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) attempt the massive expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest. As they reached the summit on May 10,1996, certainly not without any hardship, the climbers including Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington), Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), Andy 'Harold' Harris (Martin Henderson), and others, run into a violent storm as they start their descent engulfing the adventurers in one of the fierest  blizzards ever encountered by man. Challenged by the harshest conditions imaginable, the teams must endure blistering winds and freezing temperatures in an epic battle to survive against nearly impossible odds.

Others to round out the cast are Robin Wright as Peach Weathers, Beck's wife, Emily Watson as Helen Wilton, manager at the mountain base, Keira Knightley as Jan Arnold, Rob's wife, Elizabeth Debicki as Caroline Mackenzie, medical expert at mountain base, Thomas M. Wright as Mike Groom, Naoko Mori as Yasuko Namba, Ang Phula Sherpa as Ang Dorjee, guide of the expedition, Tom Goodman-Hill as Neal Beidleman, Mark Derwin as Lou Kasischke and Justin Salinger as Ian Woodall.

This was intensely directed by Baltasar Kormakur ("101 Reykjavik" 2000, "The Sea" '02, "A Little Trip to Heaven" '05, "Jar City" '06, "Inhale" '10, "Contraband" '12, "The Deep" '12, "The Missionary" (TV movie) '13, "2 Guns" '13). Just by this guy's very resume, he is all about intensity and grit, and has proven himself time and again. The incredible emotions these actors emit are truly realistic and is a commentary of direction to match. It was expertly written by two British writers who are comsummate pros: William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy. Other than a couple of very small slow places in script, this screenplay was stunning. Beaufoy was responsible for writing both "Slumdog Millionaire" and "127 Hours"-- both superbly written film, and although this was a well written script, it wasn't his best, not to say it was lacking. A good deal of the time, when one is writing from the premise of a true story, there are certain limitations, which can be suppressing when it comes to creativity. So when one watches a film that IS based on a true story and it's written as well as this is, this speaks volumes for the writers. The performances were certainly adequate to the task, but hey, the mountain along with the sweeping photography and the aerial direction by the incomparable Marc Wolff is what the audience is actually more focused on.

If you see this, see in the theater nicely shot in an IMAX and 3D format instead of only viewing it on a DVD, which will lose everything. This is a harrowing story where one has to keep telling themselves that this story actually happened as intense as it was.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                               Rated: PG-13                             121mins.