As I watched Everest, I couldn’t shake the feeling
that I had previously watched a documentary about the tragic events depicted in
the film. The particular elements and difficulties leading to fatalities all
felt familiar, but I think that has more to do with the similarity between
separate events, like the ones also depicted in The Summit. This was the film I was thinking of, and though it took
place in a different decade and on a different mountain, there are a remarkable
number of things that remain the same. This seems to show that no amount of
time diminishes the height of some peaks, but it also provides some narrative
difficulty.
There is nothing
inherently wrong with the repetition of the events or narrative structure of Everest, as this is simply the
composition of a genre film, albeit ones which mostly seem to be based on
similar true events. Where Everest
goes wrong is in the treatment of the individual elements. First of all, we are
meant to care for the characters in order for the suspense sequences to hold
more gravity. Although Everest spends
a great deal of its 2-hour running-time with the characters, there are far too
many of them and too little distinguishing them from each other. Even those
dominating a majority of the screen time are given a calloused and
unsentimental portrayal, and this approach also never demands we mourn heavily
for their passing, as they made their own fate when deciding to take on the
mountain.
While I do
appreciate director Baltasar Kormákur (Contraband,
2 Guns) refraining from overly
sentimental emotional manipulation, the film may simply suffer from having too
many working parts. The focus of the narrative is on commercial climbing guide
Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), who leaves behind his pregnant wife (Keira Knightley) to
take a group up the mountain. This is the heart of the film, but makes the
mistake of rushing through many of the most effective moments in order to fit in
time for supporting characters. The Heart
of the Sea had similar issues for me, especially with its shoehorned
romance subplot.
These other
characters include the clients Hall is taking up the mountain, the loudest and
most significant seeming to be Texan Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), though he is
joined by unlikely returning climber (John Hawkes), a woman climbing her last
of the seven peaks (Naoko Mori), and a journalist (Michael Kelly) stolen away
from a competitor guide (Jake Gyllenhaal). Then there is the staff that works
for Hall, including the Sherpas and the woman running base camp (Emily Watson).
And there are more, including the climbers that Sam Worthington and Justin
Salinger play, but I lost track of whether they were clients or employees. And
amidst all of these characters, I also lost track of any emotional attachment
to Hall, not to mention the supporting cast.
Beyond the
actual narrative and the tragedy of events, Everest
loses the scope of its own action. Despite being released in 3D (and on the
included Blu-ray 3D), Everest never
takes much joy in the sheer spectacle of climbing a mountain that high. And
even when there are tragedies, we are given a more intimate account of what
happened, limited in vision to what the witnesses would have been able to see.
There is very little excitement or joy in the actual visuals, giving the
narrative the style of a tragic drama rather than the exhibition you might
expect from a 3D film about an Everest expedition. Again, I respect this
decision from Kormákur, but it is just another reason that Everest is not nearly as captivating as the material provided by
the true events deserves.
The Blu-ray 3D
combo pack includes a 2D Blu-ray disc, DVD, and a Digital HD copy. Exclusive to
the Blu-ray disc are two featurettes, “Learning to Climb: The Actors’ Journey”
and “A Mountain of Work: Recreating Everest.” Additional extras included on all
discs is a making-of featurette, a featurette about the real story behind the
film, and a commentary track with director Baltasar Kormákur.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of Filmmaking:
7/10
Historical
Significance: 6/10
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