REVIEW: The Mountain Between Us

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
2017 Adventure
1 hour 43 minutes
From Fox 2000

Starring
Idris Elba
Kate Winslet
Beau Bridges
Dermot Mulroney

It was exactly what I thought it would be... a chance to see two actors I am really into, enjoy some gorgeous (British Columbia) mountain scenery and watch a so-so story.  If you're not expecting too much, you might enjoy it, too.  

I'll get you on the mountain but will resist telling you if one or both get off it.  Two strangers in Idaho have their flight cancelled due to bad weather.  Both have a strong need to get out of there.  He is a neurosurgeon who is operating the following day on a teenage boy in Denver and she is being married the next day in New York.  Neither will make it.

She realizes they're both in a bind and suggests they check around to see if they could get on a smaller plane together.  They come across a crusty old pilot and his dog (hey, Old Yeller is not dead) and they all fly out in his four-seater.  The passengers don't have time to notify anyone and the pilot, anxious to get out and back in a hurry, doesn't file a flight plan. 

Once above the snowy mountains, enveloped in a nasty storm, the crash comes.  To me it is realistic and scary as hell to think I would ever be involved in something so horrible.  I had a funny feeling in my stomach as it was all sinking in and I was surely white-knuckling the lush armrest.  The pilot is killed but the couple and the dog survive.

Both are banged up but she's messed up her leg badly.  As difficult as walking would be, she wants to hike down the mountain while he wants to stay put.  The story nicely lays out the getting-to-know- one-another phase under dire circumstances.  Both are convinced they will die.

She wins out, of course, starting down the mountain, because it gives the story line a shot of adrenaline, lest you think you'd rather it continue to take place in the cramped cabin of the damaged plane.  Oh no you don't.

The trip down, of course, provides the couple with its share of perils, about every 10-15 minutes, right up to the resolution, shall we say.  Some of those perils are fun to watch, okay, but sitting there, comfy as I was, I knew it wasn't great drama.  Even before I bought the ticket, I was thinking what, really, can you do to this plot with any originality?  

In between dodging perils the couple falls in love.  There is a warm and fuzzy intimate scene (Elba amusingly referred to it as the mounting between us on a show I was watching on TV).  The story would have us believe they fell in love through a shared fear of death and I buy that.  But the problem was that the love story and a little more of the rest of the drama just felt a little schmaltzy to me.

I confess to wondering what about the script attracted Winslet.  Maybe she wanted to visit British Columbia or get some chump change to build a new bedroom.  Or perhaps she thought it best to get away from her more storied films and just do a crowd-pleasing adventure flick (think Streep and The River Wild).  Elba will fare better because his fan base goes slack-jawed at the sight of him-- not that I'm scratching my head-- and will likely go see him in anything.  This is his first real romantic role which may entice them more.  Still, I suspect that one day the film is likely to drop off both actors' resumés.

Beau Bridges as the pilot and Dermot Mulroney as Winslet's boyfriend have two-scene roles.

I love good adventure films and I am a fan of survival stories.  I don't turn away from decent love stories either.  And while I do regard this film as entertaining, there is simply nothing exceptional about it.  Again, to be fair, I don't think there's a lot you can do with a mountaintop-plane crash plot that hasn't been done before.  If you have a desire to see this plot done very well and based on a true incident, no less, then check out Alive (1993).




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The Platinum Blonde