Everest - I think Marvel has ruined me

I decided to sit down and watch a film that involved a disaster which didn’t involve and army of flying robots dropping an entire Eastern European city on the locals while Robert Downey Jr saves the day.  I know.  I was amazed to find a single disaster movie which couldn’t be described like that.  However, I came across ‘Everest’ – a filmed based on an ill-fated expedition to the titular mountain back in the nineties.  The team of climbers was left in a pretty bad way after a freak avalanche and what followed was a harrowing tale of human versus the elements as they tried to survive in one of the most inhospitable environments in the world.  I have to say that I was quite optimistic.  I’d watched similar films in the past like ‘Alive’ and thoroughly enjoyed them, plus ‘Everest’ boasted a cast which included Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin and the latest ‘John Connor’ from that ‘Terminator’ movie which no one apart from me liked. 

However, despite my optimism I was left with a feeling that this film was nothing I hadn’t seen before.  A team climbs Everest.  They get stuck.  They have to survive and get back down.  I knew that going into the film so I suppose I can hardly claim to be disappointed about what I got, as I got exactly that.  No more, no less.  Everything about the film can be summed up in a single sentence. 

I don’t know what I was expecting, obviously just more than was on offer.  Yes, the actors were predictably sufficient in their respective roles and the scenery (filmed in picturesque mountains with epic views – don’t know whether it was technically filmed on Mount Everest or not, but it was suitable to fool a geographical novice like me!) was truly magnificent.  However, there just wasn’t that much to keep me interested.  I know it was a true-to-life story, so they hardly bring in a fleet of alien spaceships with death-rays, but there just wasn’t much there to keep me interested. 

I also have a problem with certain war films where soldiers are basically all dressed alike.  I find it quite difficult to tell one actor from another.  Here it’s a similar problem as they’re all wrapped up so tightly to protect themselves against the harsh elements (not to mentions porting full facial beards making identification even harder!) it made telling who’s who quite hard sometimes.

I certainly didn’t hate the film.  The quality of acting talent on offer and the great filming locations made it just about worth sitting through.  However, when a film can be summed up in one sentence I just feel it doesn’t offer (a) much in the way of shocks or surprises or (b) little when it comes to making me want to sit through its two-hour run-time again.  Pity, but only the once.  Maybe I’m now so brainwashed by Marvel-style movies that I can’t appreciate a film that doesn’t involve Optimus Prime smashing his way through New York with a battleaxe for an arm. 

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights