Bring the noise

Rating: 6/10 (8 October 2015)

Based on a true story and events from an expedition in 1996 that ended in disaster, Everest is a film due to the sheer size and scale of the subject that demands to be seen on the big screen. Early on a question is posed after all the life threatening risks that are involved to scale a mountain of this size are explained 'Why climb it then?' the answer in unison is 'Because it's there!' Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) is the expedition leader and owner of business 'Adventure Consultants' who will act as guide to take them up the mountain, but more importantly to get them down. We have a group of thinly sketched characters, Beck Wethers (Josh Brolin) a grizzled Texan who is the character of the group we learn the most about outside of Hall. Therein lies the problem. Gyllenhall plays Scott Fisher a rival tour operator but apart from rocking a great beard we get to know very little about him and there is never any real dynamic between (any of) the characters. As the film develops it becomes more obvious that of those who have gone up will not all come down. With base camps communication hub we have Helen (Emily Watson) being the conduit between those on the mountain and the families, including an underused Keira Knightly as Hall's wife. The real star of the film should be the mountain, and we do get some stunning shots, which in IMAX brings out the sheer size of Everest, but never really long enough to appreciate, even when the camera pans down to show how small we humans are in comparison the film moves at such pace and doesn't seem to stand still at all. While the visuals are disappointing, the sound is the real star, from early on ice melting to the fizz of the snow, crunching underfoot and the power of a storm. So is this a film about man conquering nature or how nature is our master? A bit of both. Early on in the film, Hall picks up a number of wrappers that people have dumped at one of the camps and I was expecting more of an environmental message. But no. Everest is a solid if not unspectacular piece, a disaster movie that should have done more with the characters but also the actual mountain.