Movie Review: The Mountain Between Us
If you want to watch British actress Kate Winslet in a survival show, check out her episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls.
While The Mountain Between Us is marketed as a survival drama, a man-versus-the-elements tale, it is, at its heart, a romance.
Apart from the plane crash, there are some other thrills, such as a wild cougar attack, sliding off snowy cliffs and falling into icy waters.
There are also some lessons to be learnt.
First, when you are told that flights are cancelled because of an oncoming snowstorm, accept it.
Second, do not board a dodgy private plane especially when the pilot tells you there is no need to log a flight plan.
Most importantly, make sure you find a doctor to be your travel companion, one who can stitch you up, devise homemade saline drip and basically haul your deadweight through snow storms and down the mountain.
Bonus point if your doctor comes in the form of the gorgeous Idris Elba.
There is the requisite bickering between the freewheeling photojournalist Alex and overtly cautious Ben in this opposites-attract romance.
The idea of pairing Winslet with Elba certainly is attractive.
Being acclaimed actors, you know they can make anything work.
They definitely give their all, even though the plot treads on thin ice when it cannot decide which genre it wants to be in.
This would have been a much better watch if Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad (of Paradise Now fame) had not included a cliched and melodramatic final act.
Rating: 3/5
MOVIE: The Mountain Between Us
STARRING: Idris Elba, Kate Winslet
DIRECTOR: Hany Abu-Assad
THE SKINNY: Stranded on a remote snowy mountain after a plane crash, two strangers - Ben (Elba) and Alex (Winslet) - struggle to survive extreme weather conditions. When they realise help is not coming, they try to find their way back to civilisation on their own.
RATING: M18
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