A Visually Stunning Disaster Movie but Not the Best One ....

Rating: 5/10 (24 December 2015)

The film shows a statistics that only one in four have been able to return safely after Everest's ascent. The risk involved in mountain climbing is immense, with the possibility of avalanches, altitude sickness, hypothermia, frost bite, which has been briefed in the beginning. The story en-capsules the 1996 expedition to Everest by a team of 13 mountaineers who face a devastating snow storm after ascending the Everest, which is considered one of the deadliest disasters in Everest.
The film is superb in terms of visuals. The mountains, camps, glaciers nowhere look graphical. As I've been in the mountain flight (a popular flight in Nepal where twin engined aircraft fly as close to 5 miles to the Himalayas at a high altitude to show the breath taking views of the mountains), I've experienced how the Himalayas look at a close range. The views of Everest from the base camp, Lukla Airport, and a rescue helicopter trying to land amid the high wind are superb testifying the hardship of mountain climbing. The abrupt linkages of the facts and information documents the geographical setting well. But I limit my praise for the film only up-to this as in terms of story or character development, the film falls pretty weak.
Despite showcasing an important phase of history and technically made well, the film fails to become a memorable one. It's not another Cliffhanger or Vertical Limit (caper movies on mountain climbing with villains.) As a good point, the film doesn't dramatize much of the sequences. But it's also not "Touching the void", which is one of the most tense and visceral movies I've ever watched on mountain climbing. "Everest" doesn't raise more than a documentary failing to get deep into the skin or examine the human spirit of the characters which could have made the film memorable. The film gives a certain footage on history or recreate the adventure and tragedy, but the feeling tried to be created is inadequate which doesn't fulfill the hype created.
Rating: 1.5 stars out of 4