So did love lift them where they belong and then again people fall in love, though personally I would like to fall in love somewhere it’s warm. So Love Can Move Mountains but first you have to get up and see “The Mountain Between Us” maybe?
Falling in love in the most literal sense, maybe that’s a little bit presumptuous of me but when I first saw the trailer I just thought, don’t let this end with someone floating on a door. If anything it’s Alive meets Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, and just like those people on the mountain believed God was everywhere, I can easily believe love is the same… I’m not any sort of theologian for the record okay.
The movie though was so much more than okay, seeing as how Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, of course, had to carry it alone, it shows how both have come quite a long way, especially considering Kate Winslet had so many people to play off in Titanic. Also, I’ll admit I haven’t seen many movies where Idris Elba was the love interest so this was new and I’ll say he took to it well. To be fair though the “OMG” moment for me was the dog, I don’t want to give anything away but if we’re going to be handing out awards that dog well dogs deserve some. Great movie to be sure, amazingly beautiful.
Now that I’ve done my song and dance for Fandango, is it mean to say that nobody else in this movie will be winning any prizes, not that I’m saying the rest of the cast was bad just no real standouts. Not that I was expecting that because this movie for all intent and purposes is all about the characters Alex Martin and Ben Bass.
Another thing some might ask is how do you make a love story in the snow, though I’m sure Lifetime might have mastered this craft a long time ago or so I assume. I hate being the guy that says, “I saw the movie but I didn’t read the book”, I’m expecting to be disappointed when I finally get around to it but as for this movie, I enjoyed it.
The good news is I can’t call it cliché’ because while I’ve seen these types of elements as I’ve already said I can’t compare it to any one thing. Kate/Alex for me did channel somewhat of a Leo vibe from Titanic and Ethan from Alive (1993), so am I calling Idris, Rose? Probably why they used someone I would consider a man’s man though personally, that’s how I felt about his character, that he was being used, such a way.
In case the trailer didn’t already give it away for you, Alex is on the way to her wedding, Ben is on the way to an important surgery, they end up chartering a plane, such and such pilot and wham they crash into the mountains. Now I see it… the Alive connection and yes I know the Andes was a true story but we have Ben looking after Alex for awhile then she wakes up and it becomes a choice of whether to wait at the crash site or take a chance at finding a road or something. I won’t spell it out because anyone can see where this is going but don’t let predictability stop you from enjoying this film, it has a surprise and a twist a bit.
I was hoping for more from Alex’s fiancé and the only other emotion you feel other than overwhelming love for the dog, is maybe a bit of anger towards certain individuals after everything that happened to Alex. There wasn’t much chemistry between Idris and Kate at first but I can’t decide whether that was the characters or while they picked two big names maybe they didn’t exactly fit, not until the sex scene and as the movie drew to a close. Which brings me back to how that would be accomplished but I won’t spoil that tidbit but get ready.
For most of the movie, Ben was doing the heavy lifting and Alex just had to be the woman behind the man, the voice of encouragement and given the circumstances of the situation I understand it but it still seems like he just needed to say “YES MA’AM” for most of it. There was even the, but you didn’t call, wouldn’t pick up the phone, where all the ladies get to cry, feeling Alex’s pain.
I’ll give it four stars on the grounds that I think the aftermath could have been done better while the ending was surely top notch and while I won’t spoil that you might want to turn around now. I always consider that maybe the problem is me when it comes to these things but with the world being crazier I suppose the fiction needs to be more real if that makes any sense at all.
I won’t say this was my favorite part but the dog and the mountain lion, I swear dogs are man’s and woman’s best friend as he was protecting Alex and they couldn’t give the dog a name? Next would have to be the sex, better than Titanic but leaves much to be desired, no worries if you have to bring the kids along, no nudity or foul language. Last for me was that you didn’t call, you were married debate, men always get blamed for this sort of thing but women give off signals really.
Speaking of women, even lost in the mountains, there is no end to being nosy, it figures they would have all the time in the world to talk but can a man not have anything? A working cell phone, I mean he’s a doctor, she’s a war journalist so yeah they would have the best equipment but most phones wouldn’t last a day, three tops but they were looking for a signal how long and the phone was good. What happened to everybody else… this was Ben and Alex’s story and of course, they would be the only two in the world that would understand but it’s like they just made everyone disappear so was this a good thing or a bad thing I wonder?
Nothing truly bad about the movie, I’d easily go see it again, just to feel that rush to come home and hug my dog, and they’ll be plenty of women asking would you do that for me to their men. Love lift us up where we belong, not that high, four stars out of five and I believe love can move mountains, take the step, See The Mountain Between Us.
