90% on Rotten Tomatoes
Emily Blunt stars as an FBI agent who specialises in kidnapping cases but, regardless, is chosen for a government task force on drug cartels. As she gets thrown into the deep end at the border of U.S.A and Mexico, she realises how little her colleagues are telling her, and how dangerously suspicious her mission becomes.
Right from the start, this film dives straight into the story. The entire film is intense, which isn't much of a surprise since it comes from the same director as that of Prisoners (2013). While some scenes go on for some time, you don't really notice it because the slowness just helps to build up the intensity of everything. Our protagonist works on a hostage case and wants to seek revenge for the atrocities she witnessed, but not everything is as it seems; she doesn't understand what's going on, no one is giving her any information, and she's left to just follow what her teammates are doing. We as the audience also have no idea what is happening, so these scenes really do cause a great deal of suspense even if they're taking their time to unravel.
Emily Blunt also does an amazing job at being a strong and tough badass of a woman whilst still being emotionally raw and physically vulnerable. While most of the suspense is created through the beautiful shots of scenery and crazy heart-attack-inducing music, Emily Blunt's facial and body language really help to convey that sense of confusion, suspense, and potential horror. No kidding, this woman is slaying it right now; so excited for whatever she's going to be doing in the next few years.
Seriously, they managed to make a rush-hour traffic scene intense. The cars were not moving but man oh man was it intense.
I won't say much else, because the rest is just heavy spoilers, but I will say this: Benicio Del Toro was amazing. That dinner scene... amazing.
I highly recommend this film to be seen in the cinemas, purely for the intensity of the soundtrack, but if you can't be bothered to see it in cinemas, then it's still worth a watch on the TV.
73% on Rotten Tomatoes
Based on the true story of a group of mountaineers trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest, this film explores the greatest Everest disaster ever experienced (prior to filming) back in 1996.
With an ensemble cast, and a good story premise, and not to mention the most interesting and tallest heap of growing rocks in the world, the film does a pretty darn good job.
Sure, it's not an amazing film; it doesn't leave you mind blown, and it doesn't really pave the way for future films, but it still does a great job of telling the story of this team of people who want to climb the tallest mountain in the world.
I mentioned an ensemble cast, but it's really just Jason Clarke who shines through as having something to do. The rest of the stellar cast is pretty wasted away, with people like Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley not doing much, and Josh Brolin and Sam Worthington only doing a bit more.
Nonetheless, Jason Clarke still did a fantastic job, and I'm really happy to see him get more and more roles, even if they include Terminator: Genisys... (although I haven't seen it yet, so who am I to judge, really?)
The film does a great job at really turning you off wanting to go up Everest. It explains to you how dangerous it really is. Once you get to a certain point, you just aren't supposed to live beyond that altitude; your body starts dying... literally. The instructor's job is to not just get you to the summit, it's to get you back down as well, so precautions need to be taken, fitness levels need to be raised, discretion needs to be used; if you aren't walking fast enough, and if you don't make the time window, then sorry, but you can't reach the top of Everest.
And while this is one of those rare and unfortunate events that so happened to turn into a disaster, you walk out of the cinema not wanting to ever climb a mountain. (Although, I still want to do base camping...)
It's also great in that it's able to tell the TRUE story. You should know how annoyed I get about accuracy in these true story movies. One critic on Rotten Tomatoes said: "A very conventional disaster film that has none of the standout features of the genre", which I completely disagree with because they're telling the story like it should be; they're telling the true events of the story, and so I don't think it's fair for you to brush off these events and say that they're too "conventional". These events really did happen! People died, people were hurt, people were traumatised. And it's not like it didn't make for a compelling story; it was really intense and done well! So I give massive props to the film for being able to portray a TRUE story and stick to the story well, while also being entertaining.
So, in the end, I recommend seeing this in the cinemas. It's got some great scenic shots, and seeing it in the cinema really makes you see just how terribly in danger their lives are! You see how high up they are, how small they look when they walk up the mountains, every little detail just makes the film so much more enjoyable, so I think it is worth the watch in cinemas, but I don't think it's worth a bigger screen like V-max or Imax.
A few side notes:
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