At some point early in their training to climb Mount Everest, the New Zealander lead climber, Adventure Consultants head Rob Hall (played by Jason Clarke), says to his clients that above a certain elevation, "Your body will start to die," and he meant it quite literally. But even he didn't know how literally. EVEREST tracks the the long ascent that Hall made with a group of paying customers (most were fairly experienced climbers) in May 1996 up to the highest point on the planet, which turned into a unprecedented disaster for many thanks to the unexpected arrival of some of the worst weather the mountain had seen in years.
In the hands of Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (2 GUNS, THE DEEP)—working from a screenplay by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy—EVEREST is a perfectly paced adventure story that isn't about heroes and villains. This is strictly a human vs. nature tale, and we know who usually wins those battles. The early part of film gives us a quick rundown of both the climbers as well as the climbing community that had sprung up around Mount Everest at the time. There were 20-some-odd climbing groups at base camp that year, all attempting to summit the mountain, most leaving on the exact same day, which led to bottlenecks at some of the journey's most treacherous points.
At various points throughout the film, once the weather turns, it's nearly impossible to keep track of where individual climbers are along the route, especially since faces are almost entirely covered and most of the men are sporting beards that make them indistinguishable from each other. Among those on the journey were journalist Jon Kraakauer (Michael Kelly), who wrote a book about the climb and is also featured prominently in the current doc Meru, also about climbing an impossible-to-climb peak; Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), a mailman desperate to feel remarkable; Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), whose ascent up Everest made her one of the only women to reach all Seven Summits; Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), leading a separate group up Everest and probably best known for almost never using supplemental oxygen on his climbs; Texan Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), an adventure addict who lied to his wife (Robin Wright) about never climbing again; and Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington), part of Hall's team who was instrumental in retrieving stranded climbers during this disaster.
With Helen Wilton (Emily Watson) in charge at the base camp, the group had a fairly easy ascent, with the occasional blizzard and a whole lot of clean, calm sky. Per usual, some climbers were forced to come down early for various reasons, but a great many of Hall's team (and all of Fischer's group) summited beautifully. But within hours of beginning to come down again, a massive, violent and unexpected storm swept in trapping everybody unprepared at various unprotected points on the mountain face.
Director Kormákur's emphasis is on making everything look authentic, even at the expense of his actors' comfort, who all look varying degrees of miserable in EVEREST. Certainly part of that is good acting, but I'm guessing most of it is genuine agony. Despite the inclusion of a few worried and weeping significant others back home (including Keira Knightley playing Hall's very pregnant wife Jan Arnold), the film avoids going the sentimental route as the very real possibility of death begins to rear its head. The first couple of downed climbers die so quickly that you almost don't realize what you've just seen; some simply just stop moving, slump the ground and cease to breathe as the snow quickly covers their bodies. But somehow, it's no less horrifying to watch. The sadness is countered by each new person who somehow stumbles into one of the camps, barely breathing, frostbite visible, coated in a layer of ice.
I don't often comment on whether or not to see a film in 3-D, but EVEREST is that rare exception. I highly recommend seeking out the nearest 3-D IMAX theater to watch this one. The landscapes are startling in their vastness and beauty, and there are a couple of overhead shots that offer up a perspective that will have your stomach doing a dance in your throat. You might be less aware of the sound design of this film, but with an IMAX sound system, the sound of raging winds, ice cracking, or an avalanche's roar adds an extra, thick layer of fear to the whole experience.
EVEREST doesn't seek to blame anyone for this massive failure of a mission (although a group of South African climbers are certainly made to look like a bunch of dicks early in the film, refusing to coordinate with the other climbing groups). Although weather was the primary factor, there was a degree of human error as well and a few bad judgment calls at critical junctures. EVEREST doesn't dwell on these, but it doesn't avoid showing them either, and the film is far better for it. It's a stunning piece of filmmaking overall. There's perhaps a touch too much movie-brand foreshadowing in the early part of the piece, but that's pushed out in favor of solid, straight-forward storytelling that only seems to make this tragedy all the deeper. Prepare to be wowed, but also beware of heaps of sadness throughout.
