Everest

Everest – In 1992, Rob Hall was the first person to ever take amateur climbers up to the summit of Everest. Four years later, he finds himself taking clients Beck, Doug and Yasuko up the slopes, hoping to reach the top. After having some trouble reaching the summit, the team find themselves caught in a storm which proves disastrous for everyone. With people separated and a long way from rescue, the situation becomes less about the glory of victory and more about the necessity of survival.

Everest (2015) – Director: Baltasar Kormákur

“Everest poster” by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Everest_poster.jpg#/media/File:Everest_poster.jpg

Rating: 12

Running Length: 121 mins

Starring: Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin

Genre: Disaster

REVIEW: ‘EVEREST’

Based on the true events of the ill-fated 1996 expedition led by New Zealand climber, Rob Hall, ‘Everest’ shows what happened in the run up to the fateful day where many climbers lost their lives. With such an interesting, tragic and real story to be told, ‘Everest’ can’t help but be epic, beautiful and poignant.

Where the movie goes wrong is in not fully realising the characters. They are not fleshed out or given much depth in the early stages so, when climbing the mountain, covered in hoods and masks, it is difficult to keep track of who’s who and what their motivations are. This is even more pronounced when the storm hits and it is difficult to know who, out of the more incidental (but still established) characters have survived.

While ‘Everest’ never strays into being a ‘bad’ movie, it is a little disappointing that, when dealing with such tragedy, the audience never feels that they know the characters and therefore struggle to properly sympathise. The majesty of the views and awe-inspiring scale are perfect for the cinema experience and this movie is worth a watch even if it is for the cinematography alone.

CONTENT: IS ‘EVEREST’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Towards the beginning of the movie, a man shows off his foot which has several toes missing due to frostbite. This image is mostly blurred and not graphic and the man is both happy and proud of his injuries. Later, a man is seen with fresh frostbite injuries which are more gruesome; his hands and parts of his face are red and bloody and he struggles to move with the pain.

Throughout the movie several bodies are seen frozen to the ground. The first one is not a known character; several people walk passed and seem a little disturbed. It is made clear that those who die on Everest are left there and there are no attempts to retrieve them.

The final third of the movie is taken up by the storm hitting the climbers and how it affects each of them. Some become delirious or are unable to see, causing them to fall to their deaths, others collapse from exhaustion or illnesses caused by their climb and they may never wake up. This section of the film is very tense and frightening at times as it is not clear who will survive. Some who appear to be safe may suddenly find themselves in a very dangerous situation so the stress of this could be very upsetting for a lot of children

Several characters collapse on the ground and, due to the severity of the storm, the people with them are forced to leave them behind in order to find rescue.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘EVEREST’ FOR KIDS?

‘Everest’ suffers from a disappointing lack of character development, so vital in a story about a real-life tragedy. The story of what happened on May 10^th 1996 is very watchable if a little harrowing in places. Due to the amount of death and the hopelessness of the situation, we feel that this movie is not appropriate for kids aged under 11.

Violence: 0/5
Emotional Distress: 3/5 (it is often unclear which of the characters will survive and the knowledge of how these people died is likely to be upsetting for a lot of younger children. A character in a seemingly hopeless position speaks to a loved one and they don’t know if they will ever see each other again)
Fear Factor: 4/5 (the final third of the movie is very tense and stressful)
Sexual Content: 0/5
Bad Language: 0/5
Dialogue: 2/5 (some illnesses are briefly described, for example lungs filling with water which can make the sufferer drown and someone ripping their clothes of in extremely cold weather due to hypothermia)
Other notes: Deals with themes of climbing Everest, poor decision-making leading to tragedy, human error, personal pride taking over common sense and the tragedy that can happen from small mistakes and unpredictable weather conditions.

Words by Laura Record

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