I felt like I was there... with a bunch of people I didn't know unfortunately

Rating: 6/10 (25 January 2016)

The film looks great, but without any character-development we really don't care what happens to who down the stretch.
I rather enjoyed some of the accurate time-line and preparation stuff in the first 30 minutes of the film. Really stuck to the genuine article in terms of time-line and locations.
It reminded me a bit of "World Trade Center" with it's cliché'd grieving, worried-wife characters, and similarly lacks the early scenes to create an impact down the stretch. At least World Trade had two powerhouse performances from Cage and the under-rated Michael Pena.
Here we have a film with similar acting firepower but it never comes to fruition. The most interesting character here is Jake Gylenhaal, but much like the rest of the characters - he just doesn't have enough screen-time. I think the film tried a little too hard to depict all the characters that lost their lives, and in-turn didn't flesh-out any of them.
I mentioned I liked the set-up... I also liked the climbing scenes.. really well-done. Especially near the summit. You really feel like you're rt up there.
The film is just above average overall, and for me falls in the middle of the pack of movies I've seen from 2015(probably about the 30th best film out of about 60 so far). It perhaps has some re-watch value for entertainment-purposes only. Definitely not for performances, drama, or style, but unfortunately and unexpectedly for it's 'popcorn-only' value.
I'd have liked to get to know these characters a little better.. I mean they made such an effort to show us all of them... They might have needed to make it 3 hours to do it, but I think I would have much preferred that "Everest" over this one.