Review by Matt Finley
Books have been written about the 1996 Mount Everest
disaster. Like, six of them. Including John Krakauer’s bestselling, first-hand
account Into Thin Air. Throw in the
made-for-TV movie, a couple documentaries and countless articles, and you may
start to wonder: what’s left to say about the tragic collision of human error and meteorological
brutality that claimed the lives of five climbers and three border policeman on
the world’s tallest (non-oceanic) mountain 20 years ago this May?
According to Director Baltasar Kormákur’s (2 GUNS) EVEREST, nuthin’… but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty to
show.
With an effective pairing of gorgeous, harrowing
cinematic spectacle and tense, tearful Hollywood melodrama, Kormákur’s film offers
a thrilling and largely respectful step-by-step dramatization of 1996’s
well-known tragedy.
