Noble effort doesn't quite reach the top

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2016)

'Everest' is, if nothing else, a technically impressive film, and like the mountain it's named after, it's a wonder to behold visually. And in this day and age of CGI, I'm sure there are cheats, but they're exceptionally well hidden. The characters were there, knee deep in real snow, and that pays dividends when things go to Hell.
For the most part it eschews adding dramatic spice in an effort to give it some "flavor" (There aren't any Celine Dion ballads here), preferring a more nuts and bolts narrative of the real life disaster in the docudrama style. The first hour or so is a little slow going, but the payoff comes in the final hour, when the time spent with these people makes you care when disaster strikes. It's not that we get to know the characters very well, but the very strong cast help to lift the material and make their characters and their dire circumstances seem real.
'Everest' isn't quite the film it aspires to be, but it's an ascent worth taking.