everest is big budget spectacle in every sense of the word. from beautiful sweeping vistas to majestic, yet terrifying, shots of an unforgiving mountain, everest builds a beautiful visual experience around some technically excellent elements of the film. there is a admirable grandeur to the scope and proceedings of this film. the goal of these characters are nothing less than something that should be impossible to achieve, yet people chase it anyways. the film seems to understand the folly of the activity, with hints of the icarus story littered throughout. but, it also understands and admires the bravery of the humans who attempt to take on the impossible. it is, in some ways, an ode to the human spirit of survival. but, it also inherits the problems that many other big budget spectacles also have in this day and time. it lacks the character depth and narrative drive to really make this film a compelling yarn. in many ways, this film seems to decide that the human work doesn't really matter but is more of a formality than anything. the film doesn't have its heart in these character development archs or moments. and that really does present a major problem to the film. i found it very hard to sympathize with these characters because all of their backstory seems to be shoehorned and forced in at many different points. it would have been better if they just cut that stuff out. the film would have been shorter and the film could be more focused on the thrilling elements of the film. that might have worked well because the story wasn't told with enough clarity to make this compelling because they have a hard time working around the fact that many of the faces of the actors are covered. at times, it can be difficult to track who is stuck in what situations and who is speaking because the faces of the actors are hidden. this provides problems when it comes to the clarity of the story and the proceedings to the viewers and causes confusion that is not conducive to a good movie going experience. and, that's not an impossible task. look at the wages of fear and how well it combines the big spectacle with the character development and human moments that made it much more compelling. there are several movies that are able to find a way to create compelling narratives to go along with the great visual scope and sense that big budget spectacle can offer in cinema. everest never finds the clarity or engagement in its narrative. but, i'm not sure the film really knows what the heart of the film really is. this film had a lot of potential but the execution was lacking to a point where it becomes hard to recommend this film as anything other than an interesting piece to look at.