The Mountain Between Us. It's alright.

From roughly around now until January is the yearly window during which all the big award contender films get released, the so called prestige movies. It's a great time for a film lover. Loads of excellent stuff out every week. Nearly too much stuff but that's almost too much of a first world problem to whine about so I won't. One of this week's 2 new big releases is The Mountains Between Us. It's very much a prestige picture. It won't win much though.

Alex ( Kate Winslet) and Ben (Idris Elba) both find themselves stranded when their flight is cancelled. Alex is a journalist who needs to get home for her wedding and Ben is a doctor with a vital operation scheduled. Because they can't be late they charter a small plane to fly them to their destination. But disaster strikes and they find themselves stranded in the middle of snowy desolation.

It's OK. It's a well made and well acted survival film. It looks glorious. The scenery is immense. The kind of scenery that makes everything else seem insignificant. It's just that it's all so darn predictable. It throws up no surprises whatsoever. You know exactly what's going to happen at every moment. No beat of the story can't be guessed. Nothing is left up to doubt. There's no sense of risk. You never really fear for the beautiful people. It's the very definition of a safe film. This a film where I'd have liked to have seen a non Hollywood take on it. 

I thought Idris Elba was immense as Stringer Bell in The Wire. He owned the screen everytime he appeared. But for me nothing he's done since has been effective. In this though i thought he was very good. He felt like a real character. Even when he's not talking his eyes are saying everything. Kate Winslet though, who usually wows me in everything, feels like she's on Oscar mode autopilot. Her acting is good but it's clearly acting. One little speech she gives feels like it was tailor made for awards and it took me right out of the film.

I feel like I'm being very down on the film. It has some good points. The initial moment of disaster is well done. A one take moment of terror that will put you off ever getting into a small plane. The aforementioned scenery too. It's just beautiful and made all the better by actually being real. These days blue screen technology can put actors anywhere in the world but it never feels quite right. You can always tell what's real and what isn't. You can't beat a film like this that's actually shot on location. Beautiful but terrifying peaks and valleys. Plus there's another cast member who I won't (can't tbh) name that adds a bit of charm to proceedings. 

There's one big plot point I feel will get people talking. And complaining. I wont go into details but you'll know what I'm talking about when it happens. If you are one of those folks who takes the high moral ground on it, stop and think about it if the roles were reversed. What would be your opinion then. That's all I'll say. #CRYPTIC

It's grand. It looks nice and has some good acting. Don't go looking for much else though.