Everest is as de facto" as blockbuster can be.

Rating: 9/10 (17 September 2015)

Everest did a fantastic job of blending two different movie styles together, the blockbuster style versus the documentary. If you are expecting to experience the same adrenaline rush as from watching movies with unreal plot of Man vs. Mountain, for instance Cliffhanger, you will not be satisfied with this film. Not that I didn't like watching Cliffhanger back then, it was a fun roller coaster ride, but Everest is a totally different beast all together as Rob Hall says in the movie.
The emotions Everest brought out in my case was insecurity, hopelessness and sadness but also I felt the presence of the characters in the first part of the film really well. They are of course no superheroes, like in so many of the films today, but ordinary people, just like you and me, but still not that ordinary, since they are different from most of us. If you are willing to climb Mount Everest, something that I would not even consider, that is out of the ordinary.
I guess I will never understand it why people feel the need to risk their lives in that way. I guess that most of us want to live as long as possible with our family and friends and try to stay out of danger as much as we can, but still taking chances in live, otherwise it would be rather dull, right? But then there are people who feel the need to tackle really risky environments, that most of us don't even consider and get a kick out of it, even if it means that they could get short-lived, i.e. live your live to the fullest no matter what. I can kind of see the appeal in that, I just choose not to take that road.
I haven't read Into thin air" yet, but I will definitely be doing so, and most likely other books on this tragic event. I researched this tragedy online before I saw the film, so I came into it, knowing how it would end, but all the same, it was so intense. I can only imagine how it's going to affect people who know nothing of the story behind it, and are maybe expecting a happy ending, like in so many Hollywood movies today, i.e. going through a real struggle, but living to tell the tale.
The pros of Everest are:
Fantastic performances from the cast, especially from Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin. The cast did put themselves through a lot while filming this movie and they did a great job making the characters as REAL as possible. I really respect them for that. They really did earn their pay in my opinion. I don't think they will receive Oscar nominations since like so many critics have mentioned, there wasn't enough meat on the bone character wise in the movie in their opinions, and the characters are believed to be not so interesting", but I myself beg to differ.
Unbelievably beautiful and effective cinematography. There were so many WOW moments but still not intrusive shots for show-off and it just flowed so well. I will be really surprised if Salvatore Totino will not be nominated for Cinematography.
Great directing from Baltasar Kormakur, since this must have been a tremendous undertaking, both telling a true story without adding some extra for artistic purposes, i.e. sticking to the facts to respect the people involved and their families, and to decide to make it as authentic as possible by shooting it in harsh conditions as much as he could instead of relying mostly on CGI. In my opinion he should be nominated for best directing, but I'm not sure if it's realized how difficult the filming process really was.
The sound was topnotch. The footfalls, the sound of the wind, the heavy breathing, the cracks in the icefall, the avalanches. It totally surrounded you in such a real way. The Dario Marianelli soundtrack blended so well that you hardly noticed it, which is a good thing, but I will be listening to it again later for sure.
The con of Everest is:
There is only one con in my opinion, and that is the ending. It ended kind of abruptly, like the director didn't feel the need to give the audience more than just a little glimpse of how the survivors and the families of those who died on the mountain fared after this tragedy.
I highly recommend it if are looking for a movie that is both tense and beautiful, but above all as AUTHENTIC as a blockbuster can be.