Jun 04, 2016
Been a while since I've said this, but I feel that this movie would've been a better documentary than it made a film with actors and creative liberties. There's actually a documentary on the 1996 Everest disaster itself that was narrated by Liam Neeson. I think it was being shot at the same time that the 96 season was taking place and it was obviously a documentary on the mountain itself and not the tragedy itself, since they obviously couldn't have predicted it. I haven't actually seen that documentary, but I would very much like to. I'm not saying this film isn't bad, because it's actually quite good, since I do think it captures the wonderment that these people have in trying to reach the top of Everest. It also captures the completely harrowing ordeal it must be like to reach a point on earth that no human being should ever, through natural causes, ever be able to reach. And, lastly, it also captures the struggle for survival when faced with the most extreme conditions possible. Super cold weather, storms that don't allow you to see in front of you, frostbite, lack of oxygen, etc, etc, etc. While I would never expose myself to such extreme conditions, I tip my hat off to those that do, they deserve my respect. So the film really did manage to find a balance between all those very tricky themes. Maybe it isn't necessarily tricky since, at least the first two, are interconnected. What I do think the film could've done a better job at is showing the effect these mountaineers desires have on their loved ones. I do think they try to show some of it, what with Rob's pregnant wife being involved in the proceedings, at least from a phone, and Beck's wife, but I don't think they really get a good grasp on how, in some ways, selfish some of this stuff really is. At least in Rob's case it was his job and he loved doing, as did his wife since she was also a climber. Beck's case is another entirely. This is a man who not only has a wife, but he also has two kids with this woman. And she's, essentially, raising them alone while her husband gets to go out and chase his dreams. Not that he's not allowed to, but he's also a man with responsibilities and he's, essentially, neglecting those responsibilities. The film could've done much more with that, because there's really not much done in terms of character development. It's very one-dimensional. Rob is presented as the sweetest man on earth, but the only thing about his character that's meaningful is that he has a pregnant wife. I don't think that that's doing justice to the real life person, whose tragic death this film chose to portray. Scott Fischer is just Rob's rival. Doug is just a guy who wants to reach the summit because some schoolchildren helped raise funds for his expedition. Beck is just a man with kids. I could go on and on and on and on about how they didn't do the real life people justice. But they really just did the bare minimum they could to get by. And I'm not saying that it didn't work, because I'm sure it did for some people. I just think they relied way too much on the survival aspects of the film instead of also trying to make you care for the characters. I mean they do try to make you care, but it's done in a way that's more like pandering as opposed to developing characters that you have some sort of attachment to. This is why I think a documentary is better, because you'd get to hear it from the people who knew those that died on the expedition or those that survived it. They could tell you how these people really were instead of having the characters be one-dimensional in a film that, I'm sure, took some liberties with the source. This is a story that deserves to be told, but it deserves to be told in a way that's superior to this. I hate to seem like I'm complaining about this film because, all in all, I actually though it was a pretty good movie. But I just felt that given the both tragic and inspirational story of survival in the face of the harshest conditions on earth, that this should've been a considerably better movie. The acting is more than solid, I can't complain about that in the slightest. The onus isn't on the cast at all. It's on the writing and the handling of the characters. I just felt that they could've done so much more. The cinematography is absolutely excellent, they do a great job at really transporting you to this place and showing you how absolutely insane it is to actually attempt to reach the summit. I wanted this film to be amazing, I really did, but the script had other ideas. The film is visually dazzling and strongly acted, but it lacked the narrative depth that the people that really went through this deserved. With that said, this is a pretty good movie. Just one that should've been considerably better. I'd recommend it if it ever hits Netflix.
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