Is 'Everest' Worth Seeing? The Critics Weigh In

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnaopfyC-Qk

Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Robin Wright are among the top-tier talent featured in the adventure drama "Everest" - and according to critics, the star-studded cast is worth watching.

The Baltasar Kormákur-directed 3-D film, based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster that killed eight climbers, received a 72 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earning praise for its vivid visuals and intense, well-documented plot.

"Shot in Nepal and the Italian Alps, cinematographer Salvatore Totino has a lot to work with and he makes the most of it. The technical aspects of this grueling film are superb throughout, including top-notch special effects and sound work. The movie should be a real player in the crafts categories of the Oscars, but I have a feeling it could go even further than that. Hopefully audiences will want to see this terrific film which represents the best of moviemaking at its most daunting." -- Pete Hammond, Deadline

Although the general consensus is that the film was shot beautifully, some argue that the somewhat predictable ending was a bit frustrating.

"'Everest' is immensely thrilling and is beautifully shot (and it's one of the few times I'd recommend watching a movie in 3D). And not knowing who survives and who doesn't beforehand, I did find myself rooting for the characters — you know, real people — but there really is that nagging feeling of, 'They put themselves in a position where they knew they might die, and now they might die.' Even so, it doesn't diminish just how tense 'Everest' is … and, boy, is it ever tense." -- Mike Ryan, Uproxx

Others believe the cast of too many characters takes the focus away from a lot of the film.

"The film feels like what happens when a studio exec barks, 'Get me a ‘Gravity!' That Oscar-winner — like '127 Hours,' 'Into the Wild' and 'The Grey' before it — falls into a new category we might call the Intimate Disaster Epic. Whereas those movies all focused on one person caught up in extraordinary circumstances and fighting for survival, 'Everest' tries and fails to spin too many plates, with more than a dozen characters desperate to make it down from one of the world’s most treacherous slopes. Each of those real-life climbers no doubt had an interesting story to tell, but when shoved together like this they’re all reduced to types rather than people." -- Alonso Duralde, The Wrap