“Everest” is the true story of a 1996 expedition to climb Mount Everest, based on the book ‘Into Thin Air’, Jon Krakauer's personal account of the experience. Since I have never read Krakauer's book I am unable to compare Everest to the book so I can only share my thoughts on the movie itself.

“Everest” wasn't on my "must see" list by any means as I don't understand the mentality of people who risk their lives in such a (in my opinion) pointless way, especially when they have family and kids, or even a pregnant wife to take care of. While it's hard to fully understand what motivates these people, journalist Krakauer who asks on our behalf brings up the subject in the film.

The performances were all very strong, most notably by Jason Clarke (John Conner in “Terminator Genisys”, Malcolm in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) as Rob Hall the group leader who has the pressures of running his business while feeling responsible for helping his clients achieve their dreams.  His wife Jan Arnold is played convincingly by Keira Knightley (“Pirates of the Caribbean”, “The Imitation Game”). In her pregnant state, she stays home while Rob leads the doomed expedition. Most of the drama is focused on this.

There are several story lines and characters (no disrespect to the real people the story is based on), each with their own motivations and personalities. Some of their stories felt a bit thin, but tough to focus solely on all characters at the risk of the flow, or more importantly the accuracy. I feel the movie did a good job of toggling between a Hollywood movie and a documentary. While there are minor conflicts here and there, Everest's true antagonist is the weather and the mountain.

My hat's off to Universal for having this screening in the local Imax theater, and if you do intend to see the movie, THAT is the venue to do so! It was a beautiful 3D experience that really puts you on that cold mountain!  Considering this is the ONLY way I'll ever experience Mount Everest, I do feel as though I was there. You truly get a sense of the size and height of it! The incredibly powerful and loud storm with lightning crashes and wind gusts made excellent use of IMAX sound system. This movie will lose a lot of its impact on a smaller screen at home, or even a normal theater screen. If you intend to see it, do yourself a favor and do the 3D IMAX experience!

Again, since I was not at all familiar with the true story it's hard to know where they took liberties, and what were accurate depictions. Some moments seemed a bit contrived, others seemed very likely. At one point we can see a character's hallucinations as his mind gives him the motivations he needs to continue on. It felt quite real and very likely happened that way.

Since we don't have a lot of time to learn all the characters well it was a bit of a challenge to follow each one of them in turmoil later in the film because of how bundled up they were. I suppose if each had some unique way of distinguishing them things may have been a bit easier, but that would come at the cost of accuracy.

Since you do get a real sense that you are along for the ride, there are some subtle but disturbing moments. They are certainly very tame for a Hollywood movie, but given the intended realism, they do have a lot of impact and are tough to watch. Knowing they are based on real events makes it that much more powerful. The very end shows some photos of the real people from the expedition, which only makes it more real. Much like the ending of Into the Wild, pictures from the real stories are powerful and very haunting.

I hate to say I enjoyed “Everest”, but it was a very powerful experience that should be seen. The audience had tears and was quite quiet and somber afterwards. I'll certainly do some reading to compare the real events to the movie, but I don't think I have the strength to read ‘Into Thin Air’. While I found it tough to empathize with people who chose to do this, we were along for the ride and I did care about them. I suggest a happy Disney feature after to cheer yourself up.

I give it 7.5 out of 10.