Shows how this dangerous sport can easily become a life or death situation for all those involved

Rating: 8/10 (15 October 2015)

Everest is a drama film about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster which resulted in the deaths of several mountain climbers. Even though I know absolutely nothing about mountain climbing, nor do I have any interest in ever doing so myself, I really liked the film for the most part. It shows how this dangerous sport can easily become a life or death situation for all those involved.
Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, many other mountaineers have tried, and often failed to do so as well. One such mountaineer, a New Zealand man named Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), had managed to ascend to the top of Everest a record 4 times. This movie chronicles what would have been his fifth successful ascent to the top. Upon reaching the peak of the world's tallest mountain, Rob, along with the rest of his fellow mountaineers, are caught in a deadly snowstorm, which hinders the groups' progress in descending back to the bottom. Several members of Rob's group end up separated in the freezing cold snow with no other way to reach one another. Many frantic attempts at communicating with them via radio by the crew at the base camp offer them limited reassurance that most of the mountaineers will make it out of this expedition alive.
I feel that this film's true story transitioned very well onto the big screen. The cinematography of Mount Everest was excellent and really made you feel as if you were right there with the mountaineers on top of the world's tallest mountain. Jason Clarke, in a role originally intended for Christian Bale, was great as Rob Hall and Keira Knightley was very good as well playing Rob's pregnant wife Jan. Josh Brolin shines too, playing an American doctor named Beck Weathers who wanted to climb to the top of the mountain with Rob's group. Even though this film solidified my determination that I will never go mountain climbing, I still very much enjoyed it.
I rate it 8/10.