Everest

Everest (12A)

UK/USA/Iceland 121 mins Dir: Baltasar Kormakur Cast: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright

Just as the fearsome Mt. Everest is the real star of any expeditions that have succeeded in conquering it, so too does the looming natural wonder overshadow the relatively puny humans of director Baltasar Kormakur’s new film. Taking its name directly from the mountain and inspired by the events recounted in Jon Krakauer’s gripping bestseller Into Thin Air, this is a physically sturdy picture where the elements and nature are the true A-listers.

Krakauer’s book is based on his horrifying first-hand experience of a doomed 1996 dual-expedition to the top of Everest. With an unusual number of tour parties planning to summit the mountain all on the same day in May, the situation was ripe with the potential for a dangerous log-jam in the midst of one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. When the previously clement weather then turned unexpectedly violent and stormy, tragedy ensued.

Adapted by 127 Hours’ Simon Beaufoy and Unbroken’s William Nicholson, Everest focuses on the men and women caught up in the ensuring catastrophe. Jason Clarke squares his jaw and makes for an engagingly noble, humane watch as New Zealand Adventure Consultants guide Rob Hall, the man responsible for escorting the likes of Texan Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) and unassuming mailman Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) not just up the mountain but safely back down as well. They’re accompanied by, among others, Krakauer himself (played by Michael Kelly) whose observations would form the gripping narrative to follow.

Meanwhile, a rival expedition, led by Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) is also gearing up. At base camp are manager Helen Wilton (Emily Watson) and doctor Caroline (Elizabeth Debicki) whilst anxiously awaiting news at the end of the phone on the other side of the world are Rob’s wife Jan (Keira Knightley) and Beck’s spouse Peach (Robin Wright).

Having flitted between his native Iceland and Hollywood (where he’s made the likes of 2 Guns), Kormakur has already proved himself adept at tales of human endurance, his 2012 account of a capsized fishing boat The Deep proving memorably gripping. Now with the majesty of Everest and the surrounding Himalayas at his disposal, the filmmaker goes all out to plunge audiences into this vertiginous, dizzying, oxygen –starved story, utilising Salvatore Totino’s beautifully sweeping camerawork to depict both the serene beauty and savagery of an environment where the weather can turn on a dime. There can be few more terrifying sights in a movie this year than an encroaching, coal-black storm cloud witnessed from Earth’s balcony.

Physically imposing and visceral though the film may be, it’s undeniably true that the characters remain sketches – touchier, meatier subtexts regarding the financial exploitation of the mountain remain just out of reach. This is where the film perhaps lacks the emotional wallop of Kevin McDonald’s gripping documentary Touching the Void, which re-enacted a gut-wrenching 1985 Siula Grande expedition to electrifying effect.

Nevertheless, Everest’s well-chosen cast (many of whose weathered features are effectively captured in judiciously chosen close-ups) do their best with body language and subtle gestures to keep an audience hooked. Especially poignant is the ever-watchable Hawkes as Doug, whose attendance on the expedition has been made possible by the sponsoring efforts of schoolchildren.

Even so, it’s Watson and Knightley who do the most to put a human face on the increasingly anguished storyline, with one especially gut-wrenching phone call scene proving again that the underrated Atonement actress can excel when given the right material. If the movie packs any sort of emotional impact (and ultimately it does), it’s down to the neat juxtaposition of such intimate moments with the more trailer friendly, brawny ones.

Still, it’s the towering, imposing figure of Everest itself that leaves the deepest impression: craggier than Tommy Lee Jones and far more intimidating too, there’s no denying who’s the star of the show.