Everest was an approximately two hour long film that was centered around the struggle of the main characters against Mount Everest. It was a human story filled with highs and lows, but since the movie was a memorial to some of the people that have died on Mount Everest, be prepared for a little bit of good times mixed in with a lot of sadness.

The story followed the adventures of Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jason Clarke (Rob Hall), as they lead their climbers to the top of Mount Everest. It mainly focused on the struggles of individual people or pairs as they attempted to survive the worse and worse conditions that were thrown at them.

Since the mountain was so large, it could create its own weather patterns. This was the driving force behind the conflict, as the climbers were hit by a terrible blizzard when they were near the top of the mountain. With little preparation or warning about the storm, the climbers were hit hard, and had to fight their way down. The majority of the movie followed their struggle to make it down the mountain alive, despite the freezing temperatures, howling wind, and slippery ice.

The themes explored by this plot included loyalty, hardship, success, loss, and death. Many of these themes were darker themes that reflected the hardship that the protagonists faced. The questions that were explored by the themes had to do with decision making, pride, and knowing one’s own limits. The movie really dived into the consequences of one’s decisions, and showed how keeping your eyes on the prize can make you oblivious to your surroundings and to yourself.

Shot in the Italian Alps and the foothills of Mount Everest, the movie was surrounded by screensaver-worthy, snow covered mountain wilderness. However, there wasn’t a lot of time to admire the scenery, as most of the shots were centered around the characters as they struggled to survive their climb to the top of Mount Everest.

The cinematography in Everest was decent. The camera shots focused mainly on the characters and their faces to give the audience a good look at how the characters were feeling and what they were thinking. This translated into a lot of closeups The closeups complemented the tension of the movie well, although the shots were similar throughout the movie, and a little more variety would have helped out the movie.

The only time that the shots focused on a wider view was when the movie set up tension by showing the approaching storm, or to pan out and show where the characters were in context with the rest of the mountain. These moments were nice breaks from the closeups, and really set the mood for those parts of the movie.

Overall, this was an emotional movie. It focused on the human aspect of the climbers’ struggles. If you didn’t like to cry about characters that you just met, or didn’t care for a movie where the fate of the main characters was uncertain, then this wasn’t for you.

However, if you were into environmental disaster movies, and stories that explore and take a deep look at the characters in a struggle, then this was for you.

I personally thought that it was a pretty good movie, although it did rely heavily on the feelings and connections that I made with the characters. If the plot didn’t rely so heavily on me caring about the characters and had more depth, then it would have been better.

I gave this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars because it was cool to see the soaring mountains and snow covered wilderness, but the plot was lacking in real depth and creativity.