Reviews

There's a big build up to finding the two original climbers of Everest and to retrieving the camera that one of them carried because it would show whether or not they reached the peak. One of these climbers had already been found, no camera, but they had a good idea where the second might be. Going to the top of Everest was not part of the mission. But, as soon as these self indulgent guys got a ways up the mountain, the primary objective was to summit the mountain. Ultimately one member of the team spent five minutes walking off the trail to see if he could find the body. Just an excuse to make another movie about the nonsense of climbing the tallest mountain as though it is an important use of money.

Forget that the original character was smartly created by Tom Clancy. If this had been a brand new character the writing still would have been horrible. Frequently, the plot turns of some unfortunate event that only serves to draw out the story by adding some new obstacle or happy coincidence. The daughter getting the video game that they use to communicate, and the father finding it. The hostage doctor being a friend of the President. The wife of the terrorist, getting on the truck just in time for the team to miss hooking up with her which gave that story line another episode unnecessarily. Over many weeks, I've had to stop watching several times and been equally disappointed each time I return. I cannot seem to get through a single episode in one sitting, but am currently in episode seven of eight. The cast is poorly formed with no chemistry between Abbie Cornish and John Krasinski, and the character of Admiral Greer is a total disaster. I don't feel a need for another season. Amazon, spend the money on something else.

The effects are great. But, the directing was pretty poor. Chris Pine plays the hero Bernie Webber and spends an inordinate amount of screen time at the wheel of this little boat in the middle of a raging gale looking down at nothing. The compass is gone, so he's literally looking down at nothing. In real life he'd never take his eyes off the churning water around him. Very poor directing and way too much melodrama. Too bad because the real story is one of the U.S. Coast Guard's most amazing and mostly successful rescue missions in history. The best actor in the movie is Casey Affleck who does a pretty good job play the quiet, thoughtful, level-headed crewman aboard the stricken tanker.