Went to see Everest, the true story of a mountain climbing expedition that didn’t go so well. Set in the 1990s, this film has a pretty impressive cast with members often serving small roles or not the big hero roles you might expect. It’s about two hours long and sometimes feels it but it kind of has to be long otherwise it’d be too short (which is almost a nonsensical phrase but it applies). The film is gorgeous to look at and tells us enough about climbing Everest verbally and visually that we’re never lost as to what’s going on and what the stakes are. If they weren’t filming on location then they did a darn good job of emulating it (I’d like to say they filmed at the lower elevation base camps but I can’t be sure).

Since the movie is ultimately a tragedy, it is kind of a waiting game until things go very wrong. And, when they do, it’s pretty gripping and emotionally jarring (maybe even manipulative). I found the movie overall very effective… hitting all the right notes and holding the audience in a great deal of suspense (especially if you don’t know which climbers live and which ones die).

Score: 86