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The Goonies (1985) Movie Retro Review By Stephen McLaughlin

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The Goonies

Director: Richard Donner
Writers: Steven Spielberg (story), Chris Columbus (screenplay)
Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Jonathan Ke Quan, John Matuszak, Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano, Anne Ramsey

The Goonies is in my Top 5 best films of the 1980s. I think I could recite most of the dialogue from this movie and in the correct order is how much this became an obsession for me aged 9. I’m not even sure I was allowed to be watching this at that age. Yes it’s about a group of kids called The Goonies who go on one last adventure before the foreclosure of their homes to pave way for a Golf resort and In order to save their homes, these group of misfits set out to find a pirate’s ancient valuable treasure. 

I’m telling you we must have been a lot tougher in my day because some of the content in this movie would be too scary or adult themed for the kids of today. Well I’m beginning to sound like Mama Fratelli here so here goes my review. I think this was the first movie I saw Josh Brolin appear in (Yes the guy who would become Thanos) and he plays older brother Brandon Walsh who has just flunked his Driving test and although that is a big deal, it was earth shattering back in the material 1980s. Brolin does exactly what it says on the tin, plays the big brother and to none other than another actor who would go on to do some pretty big things in Middle Earth nearly 30 years later. I am talking about Sean Astin here who plays the asthmatic ridden Mikey Walsh and more or less the leader of The Goonies. 

Making up the rest of the cast is Jeff Cohen as the hilarious Chunk, Corey Feldman as the wise talking and Spanish interpreter Mouth, Kerri Green as Andy, Martha Plimpton as Stef, Jonathan Ke Quan as Data, John Matuszak as the loveable Sloth, Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano as the Fratelli Brothers Jake and Francis and their hardened Mother Mama played by Anne Ramsey. This is probably one of the best lineups of all time in terms of most of the cast at this point were predominantly unknown but somehow the casting here was lightening in a bottle. Cohen as Chunk should have had his own standalone film. A natural comic and excellent timing and delivery on all of his lines justified more Chunk screen time. The brilliant Corey Feldman shines as the wisecracking but charming Mouth who has to have the last word every time. Jonathan Ke Quan as Data is there for the slapstick. Some of it works and some of it doesn’t. Nevertheless Ke Quan is as pivotal as the rest and this role perhaps shook off the ‘Short Round’ label from the previous years “Temple of Doom”. 

They make up The Goonies and alongside Green, Plimpton and Brolin who play the grownup kids throughout the adventure are up against The Fratellis who are on the run and hiding out in an abandoned restaurant on the coast which just happens to be the beginning of trail for the pirates treasure. The villains of course are hot on the pursuit of The Goonies when they get wind of the prize that lays waiting for them at the end of the trail. This scenario carries the film throughout after a slower opening and more comedic first twenty minutes, this movie moves darker into a murdered body in the cold storage in the abandoned restaurant (The Fratellis Handy Work), deathly booby traps and skeletons. 

Richard Donner is one of my favourite Directors of all time and his handling of the shift in tone is perfect and natural. It doesn’t feel like a different movie after those first twenty minutes. It keeps the humour the same, only the stakes are higher and a more frantic pace picks up. The writing of both Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus are very evident here. You could say that The Goonies is more a child like version of an Indiana Jones film. Spielberg just off the back of two successful Indy films appears to be still in the zone for adventure films and Chris Columbus I’m sure achieves a screenplay fit for Spielberg’s writings. 

Overall The Goonies has stood the test of time because of its writings and how the screenplay transcends onto film. Great character understanding and relationships is also a key element in its success. Especially the Chunk / Sloth relationship that will make you laugh one minute and cry the next. The film is a rollercoaster action adventure with great comedy and some darkness thrown in for good measure. IMDb appear to be clinging onto a Goonies 2 and to be honest I’m unsure if I would like that or not. Somethings are best just left the way they are. If you haven’t saw a The Goonies yet, where have you been? I can’t recommend this movie enough. A must see.

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Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Blu-Ray Movie Review By D.M. Anderson

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Avengers Infinity War

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus (screenplay by), Stephen McFeely (screenplay by) 
Stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, Pom Klementieff, Benedict Wong

The dust has settled, the hype has died down, the fanboys have scrutinised every frame and Avengers: Infinity War has already raked in $2 billion worldwide. Now it’s time to take a deep breath, look beyond the spectacle and obligatory fan-service to assess what is still essentially half a movie (though it’s still a lot better than Age of Ultron). 

I’ve always been pretty dubious over the practice of dividing a single story into two or more separate films. I understood Quentin Tarantino’s motives behind Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 because they were stylistically different. But two Breaking Dawns, two Mockingjays and three freaking Hobbits were just greedy, cynical cash-grabs calculated to prey on fans whose commitment to their beloved franchises gave them no choice but to open their wallets one more time than necessary.

But after seeing Infinity War twice now (once in theatres with everyone else, the second time for this Blu-ray review), I have to grudgingly concede that the decision to make it two movies might be justified (I’ll reserve a final verdict until next year). As it stands, this film has an unenviable task: Include nearly every major MCU character, work them into the film without regulating anyone to a gratuitous cameo while still moving the new story forward (“new” is relative, though…longtime fans have been aware of this coming war for years). 

For the most part, the film is successful, mainly because Marvel has done a pretty masterful job of laying the groundwork during the past decade of MCU movies. So when Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) engages in verbal chest-thumping with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the story doesn’t need to spend time establishing their personalities the way a stand-alone film must. Speaking of which, the film’s best moments are when these iconic characters are meeting each other for the first time. Those involving one-or-more of the Guardians of the Galaxy are predictably the funniest, and sometimes surprisingly moving.

The downside, of course, is that anyone not fully up-to-speed with the doings in the MCU will be completely lost. Sure, they could (mostly) follow the story, maybe even a few of the subplots, but will have absolutely no emotional stake in any of these characters. And there’s no other film in the MCU that depends more on the audience’s investment in its characters than Infinity War (especially during the final act).

Even without the burden of character exposition, bringing them all together convincingly takes a considerable amount of time (which Infinity War does by presenting three concurrent subplots). Could the rising action leading to its epic climax have been trimmed-up a bit? Absolutely. Infinity War is occasionally meandering and apocalyptic battles are so standard in this franchise that simply making them longer doesn’t necessarily make them grander. However, the story doesn’t feel gratuitously padded just to squeeze-out two movies. Casual viewers may be impatiently checking their watches after ninety minutes, but it goes without saying that anyone who loves these characters won’t want it to end. 

But end it does, with whopper of a cliffhanger that’s more Empire Strikes Back than An Unexpected Journey. In other words, the story may be incomplete, but not the experience. And if all 18 of the previous entries in the MCU can be considered converging roads leading up to this moment, then perhaps two movies is justified. I guess we’ll all know for sure next year.

Until then, because of its size, scope, references to past events and plethora of Easter eggs, Infinity War makes better repeated viewing at home than the usual superhero film. Nobody but the most dedicated fanboys would be capable of catching everything the first time. On a related note, I’m sort-of surprised at how light this Blu-ray is on supplemental material. The featurettes are entertaining, but mostly promotional and pretty short compared to those included on many other Disney/Marvel releases. 

Action & Adventure

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Movie Review By John Walsh

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Sicario Day of Soldado

Director: Stefano Sollima
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner

There’s a well documented phenomena in the movie industry, certainly Hollywood, that seems to afflict big movie studios. The primary cause is greed and lack of originality. The dreaded sequel syndrome has struck at the heart of many a promising trilogy or franchise and it has another victim in its sights. The first Sicario was a fantastic film. A self contained story that explored important themes, featured the talents of Emily Blunt, Roger Deakins and the directorial genius that is Denis Villeneuve.

I really didn’t think a sequel was necessary and neither did Stefano Sollima or Taylor Sheridan clearly, because the only real connection to the first film is Matt Graver and Alejandro Gillick. 

Day of the Soldado is this potential Sicario trilogy’s attempt at doing the Dark Knight. It shares the same universe as the first film but is essentially another self contained story. That hasn’t changed my opinion about returning to this world any however, Graver and Gillick are back but that special spark is missing. Only time will tell whether they pull a Dark Knight Returns and attempt to interconnect the three with a returning Villeneuve and Emily Blunt or if they’re going down the Jason Bourne route with countless sequels that meander all over the place before ending without a meaningful conclusion. 

It starts with a bang, literally, with an illegal Muslim terrorist blowing himself and border patrol officers up after a brief chase and stand-off. This theme continues with spectacular fashion onto the next scene with multiple men detonating explosive jackets in a grocery store. I have to say, I did enjoy the way that whole scene was filmed. It put the audiences in the shoes of a passerby caught up in the fracas. It had an extra bit of emotional bite too, especially with the handful of real attack’s that have taken place in the U.K. and France recently. It’s this atrocity that’s responsible for kicking off the story and bringing Mr. Graver into the proceedings. 

Anybody who has seen the first Sicario will know what you’re getting with Matt Graver. He’s an unflinching, cavalier, leader of men that will do anything to get results. We get a perfect visual representation of that when he interrogates a political prisoner and calls an air strike on his familial home to hammer home the point that the US has other, more lethal means of getting answers in the current day. This is the morally grey man that the CIA/DoD task with handling the terrorist issue. He quickly deduces that it’s the Mexican cartels who are responsible for sneaking them across the border and recruits his old friend, Alejandro, once more before attempting to incite a civil war. 

There’s an interesting conversation around this point between Graver and the President where the definition of terrorist is discussed. Which incidentally, is a group of person that will use any means necessary to gain a political goal. This almost perfectly describes Matt and Alejandro to a lesser degree and further highlights the moral ambiguity of the so called ‘good guys’.

They don’t mess around either, performing a series of false flag attacks across the border to stoke up violence and turn Mexico into another Iraq. Gillick effortlessly assassinates a high profile lawyer, linked with the Matamoros cartel, in one slick and quick fire manoeuvre. That’s one thing I can’t have any complaints about here, the action sequences throughout are consistently excellent and exhilarating. There’s another equally well executed operation shortly afterwards with the kidnapping of the rival cartel leaders daughter, Isabela Reyes (Isabela Moner). There’s a fake ‘rescue’ mission and then the corrupt Mexican police spice things up nicely, leaving Isabela and Alejandro stranded. 

Del Toro is thrust into the humanising figure in the absence of Emily Blunt and in fairness to him, he nearly fills the void. He has a fair few tender moments in the midst of the anarchy, mostly during his time spent bonding with Isabela, who presumably reminds him of his dead daughter. He even turns rogue in an effort to save his young companion after some intel comes in showing that several of the terrorists were actually American natives. This is a problematic discovery to say the least after the explosive antics that preceded it. The operation is called off and Isabela is deemed expendable thereafter.

Benicio is a great actor but you just can’t humanise a decidedly more brutal and less nuanced story. Indeed, Sollima and Sheridan took the decision to deliberately make a more brutal story with little to no morals, which I suppose is fair enough, it’s their creation after all, but for me it lacked something in the absence of a Kate Macy. She was the audiences perspective into this murky underworld of criminality and state endorsed political manoeuvring and the absence of humanity was badly felt in the midst of the unabated, unadulterated violence that personified the large parts of the film. 

It wasn’t just the decision to go for a moral free story that left a bitter aftertaste in my ultimate enjoyment of this film. The story as a whole felt decidedly average for a Taylor Sheridan project. I love the man, he’s a brilliant writer and he’s penned some of my favourite films in recent years, but this one just felt muddled in parts, confusing in others and stagnated in the Mexican desert. There was little evidence of any real character development outside of Alejandro’s humanisation and the fatherly protectiveness of Isabela he exhibited.

The ending felt rushed and unfinished too and was left open for another film that’ll presumably see Gillick taking the young ex-smuggler who shot him through the jaw under his wing. Whether I can muster up enough energy to care after this effort is another thing entirely. 

Day of the Soldado was never a film that I wanted. I think there’s something to said about a great one off, self contained story that stands the test of time. I’ll never understand Hollywood’s incessant urge to fire out sequels willy nilly. That being said, I can’t sit here and say this film was the worst I’ve ever seen or that I didn’t get any enjoyment out of it because I definitely did. The choreography, especially during the swat manoeuvres was slick and every bit as good as the original. The performances were pretty decent in the main, certainly from Brolin and Del Toro, and as a bit of escapism, then it certainly scratched an itch. 

I’m not going to get into the clear satire about American nationals being every bit as dangerous or likely to create terror as an extreme Islamist because it’s Taylor Sheridan and the man always finds ways to intelligently implement complex themes into otherwise superficial action fair. Donald Trump’s idiotic, knee jerk, presidency is an open goal for guys with his intellect. 

Would I recommend this? Yeah, I probably would. It’s not a patch on the original, which it will always be compared against, because it shares the name, but it’s a decent enough watch. 

Rating: 3.5/5

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Deadpool 2 (2018) Movie Review By John Walsh

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Deadpool 2

Director: David Leitch
Writers: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick 
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin

I think the burning question on most people’s minds heading in to see the sequel to the most successful R-rated comic book film of all-time was “how the hell can they improve upon the original?” The first Deadpool film was the definition of capturing lightning in a bottle. It had absolutely everything; breathtaking action, visceral violence, gold standard comedy, a hint of romance and an enthralling, if not simplistic origin story. It was a passion project for its leading star that spanned the better part of a decade and that genuine love for the character showed. 

So how the hell could they better or at least equal the ground breaking original? Well for starters, the promotion of Deadpool 2 had to be right and it ended up being a shining example of how to expertly build the anticipation for a film. We had Ryan Reynolds dressing up as Bob Ross in a scarily accurate homage, playing with action figures interspersed with real action and we even had a dance double pirouetting to the overtures of Celine Dion. It was hilarious, quirky, original and packed full of Wade’s unique blend of expletive ridden put downs. 

I don’t know if I’ve seen a better promotional run for a film in my lifetime. It was absolutely relentless, had a ridiculous reach and it succeeded in hyping everyone. More importantly, it showed audiences that everything they enjoyed about the original was back, but only this time on a bigger, more ambitious scale. Which is all well and good, but how many times have we seen a studio bluffing or double bluffing us by sticking entire scenes in trailers that aren’t in the film or giving us a highlights reel with the final product being a complete let down? 

We’ve seen it countless times before, but it’s certainly not the case here. Deadpool 2’s memorable moments from the trailers are very much in the film, there’s no Hulk on Wakanda double bluff here and they have the same punch in the theatre as they did in the trailer, whilst thankfully being intermixed with equally, if not more hilarious moments throughout. 

The plot remains fairly simplistic albeit on a more grandiose scale. Two years have passed since we last saw Wade and he’s living the dream staying with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), whilst hunting down criminals. A Deadpool film can’t be based on a foundation of happily ever after however. The original Deadpool proved that Wade is at his best when he’s got that fire of injustice in his belly. It’s the botched killing of a target which we see in a deranged, quickfire, early montage of death that brings the house of cards down on his fledgling new family life. 

Vanessa’s death is a bit of an emotional double edged sword. It sucks the life out of Wade initially, who unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide weeks later, but then it also drives him to protect and save the young mutant Firefist (Julian Dennison) from the clutches of Cable (Josh Brolin) after a series of tender afterlife interactions. The way the story was handled was actually one of my biggest positives. It flip flopped between the main story, choc full of comedy and action to real dark, introspective and emotional moments for Wade. Deadpool has always had that to an extent, it’s just that people tend to focus on the swearing, violence and great comedy. 

I’ll try not to give the entirety of the story away, because this review would turn into a plot synopsis and you can read that on Wikipedia if that’s your thing.

But needless to say, Cable is a very cool, time travelling, ‘villain’ with an array of equally cool weapons. I don’t even want to call him a villain because he isn’t. He’s a bit of tragic figure, who still carries his daughters charred teddy on his waist. Think of the Terminator with mostly good intentions mixed with the pure vengeance of Sicario’s Alejandro and you’ll get a perfect sense of his journey, motivations and character. Brolin was the perfect choice to play him, despite not being seven foot tall like the comic book iteration. He’s a great actor with oodles of presence. 

Firefist was a turbulent, tortured, abuse victim, struggling to harness his fiery powers and young Julian Dennison was surprisingly fantastic. He absolutely embodied all of those things and yet managed to be quite funny at times too. His story was like a crazy, mutant take on the often pondered moral ambiguity of going back in time to kill the baby Hitler. Is a mass murderer guilty of crimes he’s yet to commit? I don’t know, I’m no psychologist, but that’s one of the many interesting themes they explore regardless. One things for sure, his story and the way it weaves through Wade and Cables was enthralling. 

Wade acts like a deranged agony aunt towards the need, gnawing away at Cables conscience and doing everything to alter the future of a still uncorrupted Collins.

Now for X-Force. I said previously that there wasn’t much bluffing in the trailers, well I was double bluffing. That paragliding scene when the newly established group head towards the prison convoy and encounter mishap after mishap and a series of hilarious, grisly deaths was one of the best moments in the entire film. All but Domino die and that’s probably for the best because they were a bit naff. Domino (Zazie Beetz) was a surprisingly entertaining watch. A mutant with luck as her ability didn’t sound great and Wade ripped her countless times for it, but it was actually very handy and she’ll be a great addition to the new spin-off franchise. 

TJ Miller not returning as Weasel is a minor travesty because his chemistry with Reynolds and the hilarity he brings will be badly, badly missed. But he’s went totally off the rails and it’s unavoidable.  

Speaking of Ryan Reynolds, I briefly touched upon it earlier, but he really is the perfect guy to play the role. I wasn’t that big a fan of his prior to Deadpool because I wrongly assumed he was a smarmy, smart arse, but his portrayal of Wade in these two films really did open my eyes. He goes through the emotional wringer, displaying rare hints of humanity and sensitivity amongst all the witty wise cracking, usual antics and hilarity. Wade wouldn’t be anywhere near as likeable for me without Reynolds distinctive voice. I continue to enjoy his self awareness and the repentance he displays for his past career mistakes too. The end credit scenes take this to another level. 

I was concerned when Deadpool 2 was announced because the first film, much like Guardians of the Galaxy, though for totally different reasons, was close to perfection. It was a self contained story that I didn’t think could be bettered. The change of director and rumours of abandoning what made Deadpool so good didn’t allay my fears. I was wrong though. Way wrong. They made everything bigger, shinier, they added double the amount of characters, but more importantly they retained the spirit of the original. They also added Josh Brolin, who always improves a film. It had a bit of everything; humour, romance, sadness, violence, incredible visuals and a perfect score.

It was two hours of pure, unadulterated escapism and I highly recommend watching it. 

Rating: 5/5

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Sicario (2015) Movie Review by Darrin Gauthier

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Sicario.png

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro

Plot:  An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics 93%    Audience 84%

Why I  Watched it: The trailer looked good, it got rave reviews and the cast is good as well.

Thoughts: Director Denis Villeneuve is on roll, everyone of his movies seem to be loved by critics and he’s also doing very different films. Here’s another movie to prove my Josh Brolin rule, when he’s a secondary character the film is good when he’s the lead well let’s say not so much.

What I Liked: This is a very well directed and well shot film, actually all the tech stuff is great, editing, sound all top notch.  I will also give the film a ton of credit for taking a well worn plot, the war against drugs and coming at it from a different angle. The film is intense and has this doom and gloom feel to it, we actually feel the sense of losing the war on drugs.  The film is also a pretty good thriller and action film, the opening scenes is scary as crap and sets the tone.  Also the boarding cross scene is text book on building suspense and tension.

The acting here is good but I want to single out not only the acting of Benicio Del Toro but also his character, this is a different dude, I don’t think we’ve seen someone like him in this kind of movie, and he really sets the tone of this film not being about white and wrong but the gray area of what you have to do to make a difference, it’s not about following or breaking rules it’s about doing what needs to be done.

Del Toro crushes this role cause he’s not trying to be a good or bad guy he just is and he does what he feels has to be done. Love the fact that his character is quiet a lot, he’s in the background. The stuff his character does is shocking cause we haven’t seen “Good Guys” do this type of thing but in another sense it fits who he is, I like he doesn’t say his backstory, we learn about it but for him I don’t think he needs to tell someone just so he could justify what he does.  There’s a coldness and also a business like approach. Josh Brolin is also good, he gets to be cocky and glib and he does it well.

The other thing about this film is that it nails the fight and the battle and the fact that this film is so dark really clicks with the subject matter, this isn’t a balls out action film this has real stakes and shows how people become corrupted.  Sometimes it isn’t who people are it’s what they do that seals their fate.

What I didn’t like: Won’t beat around the bush the only real problem with this film is Emily Blunt’s character, now I’m going to go on a rant and I’ll be clear I hated her character and the way it was written, as an actor Blunt is very good and I like her, she’s talented but the film is lucky everything else was so good cause that character was the turd in the punch bowl.  The big factor with the character is if you take it out she not only wouldn’t be missed but would make the film better.  Her character is so cliched it hurts the film, we get it, she’s the audience she’s our surrogate, but come on she’s been doing this for 4 years she’s this naive and also she’s one note, she says and does the same thing the whole time and it gets to the point you have no idea why the rest of the characters are putting up with her.  Also she has no arc, and love the backstory for her she’s divorced and she smokes and drinks. The other real problem with the movie is almost every time she’s on screen the momentum stops dead, her scenes add nothing and look the most telling thing about her is that this character is not in the sequel. Blunt is a good actress if they did something with this character then I wouldn’t mind but she’s there to ask questions so we find out what’s going on.  As a character she adds nothing.

Final Thoughts: I did like the film, it felt different and it had real intensity but I’m not joking about how much the Blunt character took me out of the movie she takes a film I would have given an 8 to and drops it to a 6.

Rating: 6/10

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Everest (2015) Movie Review by Stephen McLaughlin

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EVEREST

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Writers: William Nicholson (screenplay),  Simon Beaufoy (screenplay) 
Stars: Jason Clarke,  Ang Phula Sherpa,  Thomas M. Wright, John Hawkes, Michael Kelly, Emily Watson, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright

The movie “Everest” is based on the true story of two commercial expeditions starting their final ascent towards the summit of Mount Everest. Both groups endure fierce winds and freezing temperatures in a battle to survive against the odds. The story begins on May 10th, 1996 and follows the story of New Zealand’s Robert “Rob” Edwin Hall (Jason Clarke) together with Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) who team up both expeditions to conquer Mount Everest.

With a strong cast ensemble the performances in this movie were excellent and brilliantly chosen. The main focus is on Clarke’s portrayal of Rob, Brolin’s Beck Weathers and Gyllenhaal’s Scott Fischer. Although the early signs in this movie suggested that Edwin Hall and Fischer are rivals it quickly settles into a survival unit and the characters begin to pull together in reaching their goal safely. “Everest” to me isn’t exactly an action movie and more drama based with stunning visuals. To me this is Jason Clarke’s best performance to date and his scenes with his onscreen wife Jan (Keira Knightley) add emotional pull to the scenario. Not playing second fiddle is Josh Brolin who along with Clarke had the bigger roles and his portrayal of Beck Weathers is something somewhat emotional and tragic by the end of the movie. Brolin gives his usual solid performance in “Everest” and although the portrayal at times is a little arrogant towards Clarke’s Edwin Hall adds to the relationship they have on the mountain.

Surprisingly Knightley, Worthington, Watson have limited screen time but don’t get me wrong all have an important roles in the movie. Keira Knightley as Jan is expecting their first child and is in some crucial and heartbreaking scenes. Worthington (Guy Cotter) in a supporting role along with Watson (Helen Wilton) are the base camp team who are basically what you would call expedition characters who set up the scenarios that lie ahead. Both are involved in key scenes and take the audience on the journey in realising the seriousness of the situation the group find themselves in.

The character of Doug (John Hawkes) and Yasuko (Naoko Mori), with Doug being a amateur climber who strives to make his kids proud of him by reaching the summit only provides emotional baggage for Edwin Hall who feels responsible in making sure his friend reaches his goal. That part of the movie didn’t sit well with me. I know the most experienced climbers cannot predict freak weather conditions but when Doug is barely breathing and can barely walk, was it wise to let your emotions interfere with your knowledge and experience of how dangerous the task of reaching Everest is? Don’t get me wrong i’m not knocking the story at this point but it came off a little to “Hollywoody” for me. One thing it did show I guess was what a good guy with good intentions Edwin Hall was. Yasuko finally completing the seven summits and proudly poked a Japanese flag at the top. Naoko Mori didn’t really have much to do in the movie….well apart from climb a mountain I guess but wasn’t that memorable. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Scott Fischer wasnt explored enough within the movie and like most of the first half of the movie was introduced and came off a little bitter towards Rob. This is probably the least used I have seen Gyllenhaal in anything to date and didn’t really do much to be honest for a main character.

Full credit to Salvatore Totino (Cinematography) From what I have read *Spoiler* the actual peak of Everest was in a sound stage in Pinewood and I must say I was very impressed with the effects in this movie to convince the audience of believing the characters where actually there. The visuals and the choice of direction (Baltasar Kormákur) go hand in hand in this production and some of the views were beautifully shot and the score mix by Peter Fuchs adds a haunting quality to those visuals

Everest doesn’t disappoint. The movie is emotional and dramatic and with a fantastic cast it was always going to be a watchable and enjoyable movie. The Character development was cleverly done within the first half of the movie leading us to care for the characters and concern ourselves with their safety. Admittedly I wasn’t aware of this true story and I’m glad I didn’t research this before I saw the climatic end as this added to the emotion and sadness of those final scenes. If you haven’t watch “Everest” yet I recommend giving it a go.