Critics rating: 2.5 Stars

Cast:  Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Michael Kelly, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Elizabeth Debicki

Direction: Baltasar Kormákur

Produced: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Baltasar Kormákur, Nicky Kentish, Barnes Tyler, Thompson Brian Oliver

Written: William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy 

Genre: Adventure, Drama

Duration: 121 Mins

Such a majestic expanse of peaks and drops. Such a test of human endurance. What an ill-fated expedition. Based on the true events of 10-11 May 1996, Everest details the exhilarating climb until tragedy strikes, claiming the lives of eight adventurers.

It follows Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), the expedition leader of the Adventure Consultants, taking a motley bunch of enthusiasts with him. Each one has their own reason for scaling the treacherous terrain of the mountain. There’s also the brash expedition leader Scott Fischer of Mountain Madness (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is competing for the two-week window which has the best conditions for climbing to the top.

The ‘best conditions’ see a lot of hikers angling to reach the summit, only to run into a terrible storm and a drastic shortage of resources needed to survive. Some live, some die. One wife rejoices on the return of her husband, the other mourns the loss of what could have been. That is all there is to the plot, really.

Everest is not the story of a handful of people successfully reaching the top of the world. The moment when they do is particularly underwhelming. It is the arduous journey to get there, followed by the near-impossibility of return. So it begins with the gang assembling in Kathmandu, Nepal on March 30, 1996 and travelling by a bus which plays Yeh Ladka Hai Allah. Which is the song from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Which released in 2001. This oversight, amusing only to desi cinema viewers, can be swiftly overlooked when they begin scaling the altitudes from Lukla (9,383 feet) to Thok La – The Climbers’ Memorial (16,000 feet) before reaching the Everest Base Camp (17,600 feet).

The film wastes no time in its initial set-up. You see the acclimatising, the four base camps and the principle cast of characters (there are a lot of them, so don’t expect anyone other than Jason Clarke to get too much screentime). After the interval, the disaster is unleashed in full force. For the most thrilling and nail-biting part of the film, Everest seems to hit a bumpy slope and appears a bit stretched.

 

This is the sort of film you go to take in the jagged vistas in all their snow-capped glory in IMAX 3D. Look for a storyline and entertaining inter-personal conflict and you will be disappointed. The climate and slopes of Mt Everest may be unpredictable but the film continues on one track, delivering no surprises.