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This movie is inspired by real-life events, featuring Naomi Watts as volunteer rescue worker Pam Bales, who plans a hike up Mount Washington but happens upon another hiker as the weather starts to shift in a bad direction.
Watts gives a strong and believable performance in the role. It’s worth mentioning here that she seems to have eschewed Hollywood’s reliance on plastic surgery and other radical procedures. It’s rare to see an actress in her 50s appear like a woman that age, which is a brave and refreshing change. Her costar, Billy Howle, has a tough role, for reasons I can’t get into without spoiling the movie.
As true man versus nature movie, there’s plenty in this movie to keep audiences interested. While some scenes are shot with Hollywood snow, there are plenty of scenes that were actually shot in the elements, and that really comes across, showing the various risks and hazards in extreme weather conditions. While my Monoprice HPT-1 did a good job upconverting the DTS soundtrack, one has to image that an Atmos or DTS-X treatment would have added even more realism to the story. The various environmental shots do a fine job of placing one in the story, even if it wasn’t shot at the real Mount Washington.
The movie does have some odd elements to it. There’s a family story that feels tacked on, and inserted to add emotional resonance that isn’t really necessary. Some of the editing also feels wrong, with one scene that feels particularly out of sequence, since it does not fit in with the timeline of the movie. And then there’s the end, which has its own odd feel to it. Not odd in a Twilight Zone sense, but more akin to how some things were just dropped, others added for no reason.
Since it was based on a true story, I read the article that the movie was originally based on: Footprints in the snow lead to an emotional rescue | Outdoors | unionleader.com (https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/footprints-in-the-snow-lead-to-an-emotional-rescue/article_482a2e0f-e725-5df6-9e7c-5958bdb272e5.html). It confirmed some of the misgivings I had watching it. While the gist of the story is true, various elements were added to jack up the drama and add depth. Both felt unnecessary to me, hurting the realism and believability, but others may not notice or mind, depending on how much experience they’ve had in similar weather conditions.
As a whole, this isn’t a bad movie, but it isn’t great either. It aims to inspire viewers, and may affect some that way, while others might end up feeling manipulated.
It was worth renting for us, but not a title I would image revisiting.
Scott