The greatest movie ever!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This film provides a decent glimpse into the events of May 10, 1996, a disastrous day on Mount Everest on which eight climbers died. There are twin plot lines here -- stories of the professional guides and their often, but not always, privileged clients who tackle the world's highest peak, and the tale of a mountain whose five-mile-high weather has a will and a mind of its own. The climbers here paid $65,000 each to be led up and down Everest, and, watching this, you have to wonder why. The monster rock and its environs are magnificent to see, but so little time is spent enjoying the experience -- and so much expended attempting to avoid accidents and getting killed by the elements -- that it doesn't come across as enjoyable at all. It's necessary to proceed at such a slow pace that I often felt that I could outpace these athletes -- being a middle-aged lady of 61 with an inflamed left patella and all!The acting here was OK -- I enjoyed Naoko Mori in the tiny role of quietly plucky female climber Yasuko, and craggy visaged Icelandic Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson as the oxygen-refusing climber Boukreev -- but so much verisimilitude was pumped into the atmospherics of wind, blizzard, and chill that all the characters' dialogue was often inaudible. In addition, I felt the casting here left something to be desired. There are too many characters on whom to focus, and too many of them look alike; in the end, I felt somewhat tempest-tossed myself as I tried to keep everybody straight. This story falls into the category of films depicting nature's indifference to man -- a basket including the far more gripping and convincing "Open Water," "Backcountry," and perhaps even "The Blair Witch Project."As much as I'd like to support a director from Iceland, a country I love and visit yearly, it seemed to me that Baltasar Kormakur put more effort into getting an all-star cast with the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley (both in not very prominent roles) than in telling a gripping and important story well. The characterizations here are superficial, and in various closeups I had the feeling I was watching a scene filmed in a studio rather in nature itself, a very tacky and off-putting perception. I enjoyed Kormakur's Iceland-based "Jar City" and am eager to see his "The Deep." "Everest" definitely leaves me curious to see more of his work. A little more focus and a little less big-name glitz would help his future efforts.

In the starting minutes of the movie(6:07) a music which is played is released in 2001 and according to movie its 30th march 1996. So how it can be played. A big mistake to notice.

Everest is based on the true story of Robert Hall and Scott Fischer's expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. It's a premise that suggests an emotional character-driven story of two men braving the elements as the ascend Everest. Unfortunately, the movie never reaches the dizzying heights that its title suggests.There are some elements of the movie that do really well; the majesty of Everest is excellently captured with beautiful aerial shots and visceral down-to-earth shots of the climbers which convey the lethality of Everest, imbuing the movie with a sense of tension throughout. However, this effect is severely diminished by the lack of characterisation that is the movie's greatest flaw.Primarily suffering from a lack of focus, it attempts to introduce the characters of all those involved in the real life expedition, perhaps this was as a homage to them and their families but it stopped the movie having a clear protagonist. Additionally, the development that these characters get is very, very limited. It may be that the adherence source material was the downfall of this movie as there is a distinct lack of any character arcs.As such, emotional moments are scarce. Despite the many on-screen tears, you will be hard-pressed to find yourself feeling for these climbers you barely know no matter how well-acted they are (and they are, Jason Clarke as Rob Hall stands out). Thinking on it, I can only recall the one scene which really struck a chord with me (once again, sold very well by Clarke) but, on the whole, I was apathetic to the plight of the climbers. Do not expect this movie to blow you away with a story about people and their attempt to conquer Mount Everest, it settles for being a half-baked disaster movie that spends a lot of time building itself up only to sabotage its own potential with poor development of the cast.

I had a pretty good idea of how Everest would play out. I read Krakauer's account of the 1996 tragedy, Into Thin Air, a number of years ago. I could recall the general story- a lot of people die. But, I couldn't remember who died exactly, so some of the story's suspense was preserved for me.However, that suspense is likely to be present regardless of whether or not the viewer knows the details of the story. You almost can't help but be filled with dread as the movie progresses. The cinematography is breathtakingly vertigo-inducing at times, as the camera pivots under and around characters, highlighting the immense depths of chasms and the brutal, potential consequences of a misstep. Early in the film, it becomes evident that there is a problem of overcrowding on the mountain. Everest expeditions are businesses, and ones that seek to all accomplish the same goal in the same brief window, once per year. Rob Hall, played convincingly and endearingly by Jason Clarke, attempts to gather the different companies and work out some sort of solution. The tension between characters in this meeting serves as a precursor to the tension and confusion that will manifest itself near the mountain's summit.There are many characters in Everest, yet I feel that all of them are adequately developed. They are developed to the point that when characters die it is genuinely heartbreaking. The death of expedition leader Rob Hall is particularly moving. In contrast to the deaths of other characters, several of whom simply fall off a ledge, Rob's is not quick. We spend extensive amounts of time with him, as team members and his wife (Keira Knightley) attempt to motivate him to keep him alive and moving. It is watching someone at the very edge of human limits, and it is painful.There has long been debate about the veracity of accounts and depictions of the 1996 Everest expeditions. Krakauer, for one, is not a fan of the way Everest portrays what happened, calling it "total bull." It is, however, unlikely that we will ever be able to hash out all the details of the tragedy. Everest is successful in depicting perhaps the most important element of those events in 1996- that many passionate mountaineers, on a mountain that pushes people to limits, found their limits, and lost their lives.More reviews: medium.com/@gavondo