Beautiful to Look At But Rather Depressing and Unpleasant

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2016)

Everest (2015)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The opening text to EVEREST explains the difficulty of climbing Mt. Everest but then talks about how expeditions are set up to held people reach the summit. This film tells the true story of one such expedition in 1996 where the climbers ran into a disastrous storm with tragic results.
EVEREST is a very grim, depressing and rather unpleasant movie that I really wish was better. I had high hopes going into the film but sadly there are all sorts of problems that overshadow what great qualities that are on display. I think the biggest problem is the opening hour where we get to know the characters and like a lot of the disaster movies from the 1970s these scenes are all too familiar and they really don't add much. I think the direction of Baltasar Kormakur could have handled these scenes much better or at least added a bit of energy to them.
The film kicks into high gear once the climb actually starts and once the storm hits. The greatest aspect to the film is the terrific cinematography, which is just downright beautiful and at times breath-taking. Even greater is the fact that it really does show you the dangers of making such a climb and I think the one thing the film does brilliantly is show you what a remarkable accomplishment it would be to reach the top of the mountain. I've seen several documentaries on Everest but this movie really does a remarkable job at showing how difficult the climb would be.
The performances are all very good. Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley and Josh Brolin are all very good in their roles. All of the roles are rather small but it's easy to see what would attract them to such a project. The film also benefits from being technically very good with the score, the editing, sound effects and various other effects coming across quite good.
As I said, the first hour of the film is rather sluggish and I think the overall pacing is just off. The film features some intense scenes of action and peril but as I said the overall feel is just so depressing and unpleasant that I really wouldn't recommend the movie to people. I really wish the film was better but in the end it falls well short of being a good movie.