Everest

Everyone you develop a fondness for gets in big trouble. That is Everest’s only dramaturgical ambition. An IMAX marketing product that uses only half of the IMAX screen with its widescreen format. The script is purely average without any memorable dialogue, moments or characters. The excellent international cast has practically nothing to do, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, which we looked forward to most, gets only about three times more space than in the trailer. However, the visuals are nice and the Everest environment authentic, and the footage of the famous passage below the Hillary step is impressive. The key weapon in the film’s arsenal is the intensity of the whirlwind, which shoves you back in your seat in a cinema with a high-quality sound system (such as Dolby Atmos). Commendably, the film does not embellish reality, avoids pathos and is not dragged down by its own stupidity (Vertical Limit). But all of this is also true of Nordwand, which is not a rushed studio hit but, with narrative enthusiasm and interest in the characters, describes a historically more significant and dramatic climb on the Swiss Eiger (which is a completely different level of climbing than the “walk” up Everest). (09/22/2015)

Raw and majestic. Where most people would have long since given up mountain climbing, Kormákur has no trouble in handling the dramatic plane, but he also has the enthusiasm to climb to the top of the world. The central story itself is very powerful, but the down-to-earth approach that removes any possible pathos forces you to value it all the more. Deaths are ordinary, without tension build-up and so have greater impact. Great acting performances. Worthington at last has a proper role, but not major. Keira will tempt moisture from your eye. Beautiful music. (09/24/2015)

Baltasar Kormákur knows how to make manly films and Hollywood obviously likes him. After the heist thriller Contraband and the action comedy 2 Guns, he's here with Everest, his most ambitious project yet. And he has succeeded. The director more or less ignores the pathetic scenes and tries to approach the story realistically. During the climb up the highest mountain in the world and the fight for life on the descent, we don't see scenes of a half-dressed hero holding his friend over a precipice with one hand and beating a chamois with the other. When there's dying, it's no bullshit. When there's a fight for life, it's over the top. And the fact that it's got really good actors makes it great to watch. (09/23/2015)

After a second screening (and having learned about the making of this film), I'm pretty clear: the production values of Kormákur’s film are breathtaking. Whether it's the visuals, the actual locations where it was filmed, the plethora of great special effects that are naturally incorporated into the picture so that you don't even recognize them, and behind all of that there is a subtle tribute to the guys for whom mountains are everything. We can make a comparison here with, for example, the rather dumb Vertical Limit, where the mountains are just a vehicle for stupid stunts that are a laughing stock for real climbers. Everest, in contrast, has a real believable dimension and yet it is deep and human. The fact that you may think mountaineers are weirdos with obsessive compulsive behavior who gamble with their lives is actually pretty irrelevant, petty, and just your problem. Everest can proudly stand alongside some famous French mountaineering-themed films, which are pretty good on their own, and it’s certainly the best mountaineering film Hollywood has ever produced. (06/19/2016)

The journey to a place where the human body dies, in the story of people who knew very well how much they were risking, but still went for it. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less. And even though I don't understand the self-destructive behavior of the main heroes, thanks to the brilliant cast, I feel like I have at least glimpsed beyond the first summit. The intensity with which the highest mountain in the world siccs its pitfalls on climbers nails you to your seat, and the moment a storm appears, the cinema is already shaken to the core and the viewer knows they are in for a rough ride. And every gasp for breath almost hurts in your own lungs. (09/24/2015)