Everest

If someone asks you to go on a snow trip, up in the mountains, on a ski trip, there are only 2 reasons someone would ask you to do this.

1. Satan is behind anything that includes snow tsunamis, snow tornados and snow sharks attacking.

2. Ski vacations was made by Satan, there is nothing good about lots of snow, freezing cold mountains.

This is why i always travel where you have palm trees, beaches, where the sun shines, and hopefully you have some Ron De Jeremy Rum included. If you think about it, why would you want to be on mountains with only snow ? I understand that some adventures people love to climb mountains, seek new experiences, and find new goals. I am not one of them though, i have my own way to find new experiences, especially with a lap dance included. Mountain Everest is the highest mountain on Earth, and there are only a few expeditions that have managed to climb all the way up to the top. Many expeditions have tried to climb all the way, but for different reasons some of them could not continue, especially because of oxygen problems. There is one event that happened in 1996, that many people worldwide will never forget, known as the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. The expedition, led by Rob Hall, tried to reach the top on the 10th to 11th of may, where 8 people lost their lives. This horrific tragedy shocked the world, that so many people lost their lives on this journey. I personally only remember some of the headlines in newspaper, i was probably about 18 years old at this time. Could this have been cancelled, could they have predicted that maybe they should not have continued their journey ? We will never know for sure, only the people who knew the expedition members have their own view on this, so i would not want to judge anyone. When it comes to films, there are films that have shown us different stories on Mount Everest, both documentary films and motion pictures. When it comes to the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, i have only seen documentaries about this tragedy. So here we have a new film, based on the disaster, with a great cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Sam Worthington, Josh Brolin, Kiera Knightley, and many others. Directed by Baltasar Kormakúr, the man who directed action films like Contraband and 2 Guns, decided to make his own version of the story, of what happened up in Mount Everest. With a great cast, and with a director known for making action films, is this a good combination in such a historical event ?

In may, 1996, Rob Hall ( Jason Clarke ), is the leader of Adventure Consultants. He is a well known climber, who decided to lead an expedition, to climb Mount Everest. A team of clients, includes Beck Weathers ( Josh Brolin ), Doug Hansen ( John Hawkes ), Yasuko Namba ( Naoko Mori ) with other mountain climbers, head towards New Zeeland to prepare themselves. Rob Hall inform everyone about the situation, on how they will make this operation work. Rob´s pregnant wife Jan Arnold ( Kiera Knightley ) is waiting at their home, hoping to see her husband return safe, looking forward to become parents. Even though she is worried, considering that he is climbing the largest mountain on Earth, she trust his expedition team, and know that they will look out for each other. As the expedition team arrives, they begin climbing up. A camp with equipment, food and merchandise is set up at a chosen location, so the expedition team can rest, eat and get some sleep, even though the weather condition is not very good. The expedition team continue their journey, but the mission does not goes as planned. 

One of the greatest film with this film, if we are talking about the look of the cinematography, is how great the scenery looks. Majestic outtakes, where it really feels like you are on Mount Everest, and follow the expedition on their journey to reach the top of the mountain. We all know what happens, and the tragedy that took 8 lives. But this is an important story to be told, simply because we should remember the people, who lost their lives to reach their goal. The actors tries to give us an image of how these personalities were, while they were still alive. To understand why they wanted to do this, and the passion they had for this expedition, is remarkable. Remember that i mentioned that director Baltasar Kormakúr directed Contraband and 2 Guns ? He does know how to direct action films. But to make a drama film look good, in these conditions where a lot of mountain climbing is included, is definetely different. He does manage to make the scenery look great, and scary in some scenes, when you see the heights. To move from action films, to a more serious film project, proves that he is not afraid to take on a challenge. Several actors do a good job here, especially Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer. The lead role by Jason Clarke, as the expedition leader Rob Hall, also proves that he is good at doing characters in different enviroments. One of the actors i was really surprised to see this good, is Josh Brolin. I have a lot of respect for this man, he is a legend, and have done many great films. This might be one of his best performances in quite some time. So we have great cinematography, and great acting. Is there anything missing ? Everest is both interesting, and well acted, i suppose that some scenes are a bit drawn out, at the same time you understand why. So i don´t really have a lot to complain about. Maybe i would have liked to see more on the character Scott Fischer, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, since you don´t really get to know his personality enough. I would also have liked to learn more on expedition leader Rob Hall, his vision on this expedition and how he felt about the project. Apart from this i would say that Everest is an interesting view, on a horrible tragedy that never should have happened. More expeditions continue to go on, even today, and i know that more people will continue to climb Mount Everest. The 1996 disaster will always be remembered, and proves that no matter how prepared you are, you are never guaranteed to be safe. One thing is for sure after watching Everest, i would never climb any mountain, no matter how much they paid me. The only time i would pass by a mountain is on an airplaine, where you also can get a nice meal and a whiskey, i think i will stick to this instead.

Rating: DDD