Guide says new "Everest" movie is "incredibly realistic"

Everest Official Movie Review

Jason Edwards had only a few minutes on top of Mount Everest when he reached the 29,035-foot summit in 2001.

He looked around, taking mental photographs from the highest point on the planet. He gave a thumbs up for an actual camera as he posed for the obligatory summit shot. Then it was time to descend.

What he saw Tuesday night on a massive IMAX screen at the Pacific Science Center reminded him of that moment like no other Hollywood film hes seen.

That is about as close as you could probably get to emulating what the summit looked like and would feel like without being there yourself, said Edwards, an accomplished mountaineer whos climbed the highest point on every continent. It is incredibly realistic. I was very impressed.

Edwards was watching Everest, the latest recounting of the 1996 Everest disaster that saw eight people killed when they were caught in a storm during their summit attempt.

I literally couldnt tell which shots werent taken on the mountain, Edwards said. I know the mountain pretty well. Im sure if I sat there with some buddies and studied it, we might be able to figure it out, but it is really realistic.

Edwards says he looks forward to the next time he sees his friend David Breashears, a co-producer on the film, so he can learn more about how they filmed the movie.

Its magnitudes more powerful (in IMAX 3-D) than watching it on a flat screen, Edwards said. You were immersed in the experience. I think for me it was like, wow, I was feeling a lot of the same emotions I would have been feeling if I was there myself.

Edwards, 56, has a lengthy rsum that includes more than 300 Mount Rainier summits, numerous international trips and four trips to Everest. He guided on Everest in 1991, 94, 97 and 2001 for Ashford-based International Mountain Guides.

During those four years, he made five summit attempts, having to turn back the first four times for various reasons, including a frozen cornea in 1997.

He never regretted turning back and hed never second-guess those depicted in Everest who some have argued should have turned back sooner.

You shouldnt armchair quarterback if you arent there to witness it yourself, Edwards said. It was obviously a collision of bad weather and a challenging mountain that created the proverbial perfect storm.

Edwards has the decades of experience that allow him to pick apart climbing movies. He recalls seeing Cliffhanger, the 1993 Sylvester Stallone movie, and its laughable portrayal of rock climbing.

A bolt gun used to set anchors in solid rock was a particular annoying departure from reality.

I would love one of those guns, that would be just magnificent, he said. It made me laugh, and I realized I should just sit back and enjoy the film.

Thats what hes learned to do over the years. He doesnt let minor inaccuracies keep him from enjoying the movie.

But this film (Everest) is different, Edwards said. It is very realistic. It pulls you right in, even as an experienced climber.

Sure he could nitpick if he wanted. Some of the tents and gear appeared to be newer models than climbers would have had in 1996. Climbers likely would have worn overboots (neoprene covers for their plastic climbing boots) more often than they did in the movie.

There were things like not wearing sunglasses a lot, but I think that was for the benefit of the movie, Edwards said. But only little details like that that most people wouldnt pick up on.

As for the emotions whipped up by the storm, a storm that killed people Edwards knew, including one of his former clients, those were unmistakably real. They are emotions he doesnt want to share publicly.

The movie creates a feeling of loss and compassion for the climbers that were killed and for the survivors and their families, Edwards said. A few minute later he added, Its not a positive movie. It is a chronicle of human endeavor, challenge and loss. Really, thats what we all yearn to experience and overcome if possible.

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/article35503398.html

Continue Reading ..

Everest movie review

Everest - Movie Review
Everest movie review: The film is shot beautifully, and in 3D, the dips and highs of the glorious peak are eminently watchable.

THE biggest star of this film is the worlds highest peak, as it should be. The script inspired by several accounts (including Jon Krakeurs bestseller, Into Thin Air) of what happened atop that mountain on the fateful days of May 10-11 1996 resulting in the highest number of casualties Everest had seen in one day till then, 8 is clear that surmounting Everest is about endurance above all else. Everest throws everything the way of the climbers, from storms and avalanches to treacherous ice falls and mind games, and by the time you get up there, it is time to come down.

However, at the heart of any adventure lie stories of the men and women who embark on it. Kormkurs challenge lay in making these worth the Everest, and it is here that the film limply fails. Apart from worrying wives back home (a horribly misused Knightley and Wright), almost none of the climbers here some legendary, other novices, almost all brave get any context about what brings them to conditions not meant for the living.

A journalist for Outside magazine who is also climbing with the mountaineers as part of a story, Krakeur (Kelly), even asks them helpfully Why?. But nobody has any real answers. Perhaps the only actor who stands out as a character is mailman/carpenter Doug, and that is largely on the strength of Hawkess acting, who makes even a mushy tale about schoolchildren a real motivator.

Clarke plays Rob Hall, the tour leader who has earned a name for conducting successful Everest expeditions. There is a hint of a rivalry here with more upstart contenders, but Clarkes valiant efforts cant make Hall rise above being a heroic, one-dimensional figure who says repeatedly that he is there not just to take his team up but to bring them down safely. And then there is Gyllenhaal, the other, less-successful team leader, who is more cool, laid-back, high-on-something Gyllenhaal than Scott Fischer.

Still, they fare better than the others, especially the only woman climber, Yasuko from Japan, and Brolin as Beck, who hovers just on the edge of getting a hold on his character.

The film is shot beautifully, and in 3D, the dips and highs of the glorious peak are eminently watchable. Shot partly in Nepal, and partly at the Alps, it tries to make each of the halts on way to 8,848 m (or rather 29,029 feet, here) count be it the Camps, the Balcony, the South Summit and Hillarys Step. How precarious near traffic jams on that Step could be as famously happened in May 2012 is terrifyingly evident.

Cleary Kormkur has read those stories, as well as on the trash left by humans even on one of the worlds most inaccessible spots. But like the sherpas who only hang on the tangents of these stories despite providing the steps (literally) for others to rise to the top these aspects are never fleshed out.

One such sherpa, Lopsang (played by Pemba Sherpa), packs the best punch-line of Everest. Asked if he speaks English by Beck, he shoots back, while barely giving Beck a glance, Better than you, you American.

Is Lopsang saying what we think he is? Because, its there.

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

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/everest-movie-review/

Continue Reading ..