Visual spectacle can’t overcome lack of substance in Hollywood’s last gasp of summer

Recently I spent a better part of September meandering about France with my girlfriend (humble-brag or just normal brag?). Pristine Alps, ancient ruins, feats of architecture – you name it, it was beheld. However, I’ve never been a big ‘sights’ guy. This is because, as someone who lives within an average work commute to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, I believe you can and will become numb to any ‘sight’s’ beauty if exposed long enough. I know, cynical right? But just ask the people of Agra what they think of the Taj Mahal, or Chicagoans about the Cloud Gate (the bean thing). But what’s not cynical is the belief that absorption into a person, an idea, or a culture, is endless and endlessly more stimulating. Something, director Baltasar Kormákur would appear not to believe while making Everest.

Everest is a film about a mountain, but the story is about people – a lot of people. Based on Jon Krakauer’s best-selling account of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster, Into Thin Air, Everest stars, well, a lot of stars. Jason Clarke appears to be the lead as he plays the New Zealand-bred Rob Hall, leader of Adventure Consultants, one of the groups tasked with escorting their climbing clients up to the top of the world. Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, and Michael Kelly – as journalist Krakauer – among others, take up roles as Adventure Consultant’s clients. Opposite Clarke is Jake Gyllenhaal as the resident shirtless and super-chilled-out-brah ski-bum, but also Scott Fischer, leader of the Mountain Madness adventure travel service. Emily Watson and Sam Worthington reside back at one of the many base camps relaying messages for a better part of the film, while Keira Knightley and Robin Wright play worried wife half-a-world-away for Clarke and Brolin respectively.

Grand Himalayan eye-candy is strewn about Everest, intercutting each new dramatization and pandering to 3D technology. It’s gorgeous and daunting, and helps to put in perspective the scale of such a venture. As our teams make their way from base camp to base camp acclimating to the altitude, we learn bits about where they’re from and why they’re here. What we don’t learn however is who they are. Characters are sketched haphazardly, defining them by their periphery relationships instead of delving into their psyche through dialogue and actions. Instead of zeroing in on a select few characters, the film casts a wide net, trying to give everyone their moments and their stories. As we ascend up the mountain, through the haze of snow blindness, goggles, and full-body snowsuits, keeping up with the large ensemble becomes confusing. The film’s flurrying attempt to include everyone casts a disorienting vibe over the second half of the film. This results in a lack of genuine emotional investment and participation from the audience. It’s also told from no particular perspective. Not using author and journalist Jon Krakauer’s point of view more, played by the instantly likable and relatable Michael Kelly, feels like a missed opportunity. The film slowly begins to feel like a mic’d up nature doc. 

Continue reading Everest, The Martian, and When Films About Risk Play It Safe →