A Hollow Drama of Survival: “The Mountain Between Us” Review
The Mountain Between Us presents a tale of a man and a woman who survive a plane crash and must descend a mountain together.
When a storm cancels the flight of surgeon Ben (Idris Elba) and journalist Alex (Kate Winslet), the two strangers charter a small plane. En route, the elderly pilot suffers a stroke and the plane crashes in the snowy mountains. Ben and Alex miraculously survive. With no flight plan filed, and no one aware of their journey, they realize they’re on their own. They begin a long trek down the mountain, hoping to find civilization.
Originally, Michael Fassbender and Margot Robbie were considered for the lead roles.
Marketed as an adventure drama about survival and love in extreme conditions, director Hany Abu-Assad’s Hollywood film falls short of its promises. While the conditions in The Mountain Between Us are indeed extreme, especially for those accustomed to warmer climates, the film fails to deliver on its other advertised elements.
Lack of Thrilling Adventure
One would expect a film about two city dwellers stranded in the mountains to be filled with perilous adventures. However, there are only two instances where the characters face immediate danger and must act quickly. One involves Ben, the other Alex. This hardly constitutes a “thrilling adventure.”
Filmed in the Canadian mountains during the winter of 2016, the snow and cold were very real.
The rest of the time, the characters are either warming themselves by a fire or trudging through the snow. Food is scarce, but they never truly starve. Their warm clothing provides adequate protection from the cold, and while wild animals make their presence known, they don’t pose a constant or significant threat. If you’re expecting something akin to The Grey with Liam Neeson, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Compared to that film, The Mountain Between Us feels like a leisurely walk in the woods.
Missing Ingenuity and Resourcefulness
The film also lacks the inventive survival tactics seen in movies like Cast Away. The characters have some equipment, and they don’t need to improvise much. Starting a fire is always easy, finding firewood is never a problem, and mountain caves provide decent shelter for rest and sleep.
The Absence of Compelling Drama
Abu-Assad focuses primarily on the interactions between the main characters. But what’s so captivating about these interactions? The characters come from the same social circles and are well-mannered, decent, and intelligent people, so there are no serious conflicts between them. Even when they raise their voices, it’s clear they’re just letting off steam, not truly arguing. Without conflict, there is no drama.
Although Ben and Alex were strangers before the flight, they quickly adapt to behaving like partners – partners, not lovers. There’s no romantic tension between them, and when the plot forces them to kiss and have sex, it feels completely unjustified. Emotionally, they’re both still attached to their past lives (Ben had a wife, Alex has a fiancé), and physically, they should be too exhausted for any bedroom acrobatics. In the needlessly drawn-out epilogue, when they question whether their “mountain” feelings were genuine, those doubts are far more believable than the film’s assertion that “it’s still love.”
Final Verdict
In short, The Mountain Between Us is only worth watching if you want to spend an hour and a half admiring Elba and Winslet against a backdrop of snow and moderately picturesque mountains. The film offers nothing more.