Everest

Inspired by the true story told in Jon Krakauer's 1997 bestselling account Into Thin Air, filmmaker Baltasar Kromakur's Everest focuses on the nerve-wracking weather conditions in the Himalayas that led to the death of eight climbers engaged in a terrifying trek in May 1996. Cautious, compassionate Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) runs a mountaineering outfit, Adventure Consultants, along with his logistics coordinator (Emily Watson) and fellow guide (Sam Worthington). Back home in New Zealand, Rob's wife (Keira Knightley) is pregnant with their first child. Hall's clients include journalist Krakauer (Michael Kelly), who is writing a travel article; Texas pathologist Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), who paid $65,000 for the trip and communicates with his wife (Robin Wright); Seattle mailman Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), who is tackling the summit for a second time to inspire schoolchildren; and Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), a Japanese woman who has ascended six of Earth's seven major peaks. Rival guides are leading another group up on the same day: genial, gung-ho American Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose Seattle-based firm is called Mountain Madness, and mucho-macho Russian Anatoli Boukreev (Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson). Embarking from Nepal's congested capital of Katmandu, climbers successfully traverse gaping crevasses on the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, but once they reach the Hillary Step—a final 40-foot wall only approachable along a narrow, single-file path—overcrowding becomes a problem, particularly with the arrival of an unexpectedly ferocious snowstorm. Intensely atmospheric—featuring spectacular, vertigo-inducing cinematography—Everest is a gripping film that is sure to appeal to readers of Krakauer's book. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Balthasar Kormákur, a “Race to the Summit” making-of featurette (11 min.), an “Aspiring to Authenticity: The Real Story” segment (7 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Learning to Climb: The Actors' Journey” (5 min.) and “A Mountain of Work: Recreating Everest” (5 min.), as well as bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for this true-life-tragic story.] (S. Granger)