The Mountain Between Us

Nobody knows where we are. We’re all we’ve got, me and you! That’s it.

 Survival movies are fairly popular this year. Josh Hartnett is stranded in a massive winter storm on the High Sierras in 6 Below, Daniel Radcliffe is lost in a South American Jungle in Jungle, and Kate Winslet and Idris Elba have crash landed on a mountain in The Mountain Between Us.

Between them they have survived a sinking ship (Titanic) and ran the extremely mean streets of Baltimore (The Wire) so we know a mountain and a cougar and hypothermia aren't going to be a match for them. Photojournalist Alex (Winslet) is getting married in the morning and Doctor Ben (Elba) is due to perform surgery on a young boy, but due to an impending storm all flights have been grounded. They team up and persuade a charter pilot to fly them home but unsurprisingly the pilot has a stroke and the plane crashes.  THE END. No not the end.

They are stranded in the middle of nowhere with just themselves and the pilot’s golden retriever. YES THERE’S A DOG I HOPE IT SURVIVES. And yes the pilot dies. Spoiler alert. As time goes by this disaster survival film turns into a budding friendship turn romance as the pair begin to argue and flirt and Alex wants to know more about Ben. And despite the life or death scenario the stakes do feel pretty low, as Ben manages to overcome anything that comes their way. Nasty gash on your leg? No problem for Doctor Ben. Dead cougar outside? We’ll cook the one Alex shot with a flare gun and eat it. I felt a bit disappointed at the end after expecting a ‘are they both going to die’ experience and was left with a tame romance which went on for too long. The lack of danger failed to convince me that they were ever going to be in any danger at all, and this started right from the off after the pair (and the dog) didn’t really sustain any real bad injuries from the crash. I’d have loved to have seen the outcome if the studio had the courage to make it either a straight romance or a straight up survival film.

If there is one thing everyone can agree on though it’s that the scenery is stunning. Shooting at real Canadian locations was definitely worth it and we get our first real view once Ben has left the crashed plane and the camera pans over the mountains. Speaking of camera work, I was a fan of the camera slowly panning around the inside of the plane before the crash. It kind of felt like a video game with POV shots. Which then suddenly disappeared now I think about it.

Elba and Winslet are both obviously great lead roles in The Mountain Between Us and it is an enjoyable and engaging watch if somewhat predictable, however I don’t think this will be remembered as a huge hit.