The Mountain Between Us is an adventurous love story written by Chris Weitz and J. Mills Goodloe, based on a novel written by Chris Weitz and directed by Hany Abu-Assad. Played by two very popular, seasoned actors from different backgrounds whose characters are in a situation that otherwise would have taken them in very different directions. The story became a suspense thriller because of the situation in which they found themselves. The audience were involved in the couple’s survival even more than their potential love affair. I loved the story, especially the outcome.
After the cancellation of their flight, due to an incoming major storm, Dr. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) and photojournalist Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) solicit a local pilot, Walter (Beau Bridges) in order to get to Alex’s wedding and Ben’s scheduled surgery of a 10 year old child the next day. They board an uncharted flight with Walter and his dog. During the flight, the pilot (Walter) suffers a stroke. Unable to save Walter, the plane crashes on top of a mountain in the High Uintas Wilderness with Ben, Alex and the dog surviving with injuries and harsh weather conditions. Ben tends to Alex’s wounds and realizes they must come down from the mountaintop for any hope of survival. Alex asks Ben to leave her behind as he has a better chance of surviving to which Ben refuses. Instead, he climbs a peak in order to see if there are any structures nearby. On his descent he nearly falls off a cliff. While Ben was away, Alex and the dog are discovered and attacked by a cougar. The dog tries to defend Alex but is no match for the cougar and is wounded as the cougar enters the plane wreckage with bigger prey in mind. Fortunately, Alex fires a flare into the cougar before it attacks her. Ben returns to find a blood trail. Realizing Alex is in danger, he rushes towards the plane and finds Alex and the dog alive. He provides medical attention to the dog and later retrieves the body of the cougar which he uses as food. Stranded alone together for days and with little food, they find strength in each other to keep pressing forward in the freezing cold and snow. Realizing help is not coming Alex and Ben get into a heated argument about the best way to proceed. She wants to move forward and he wants to stay with the wreckage for protection. She ends up leaving with the dog at first daylight. Once Ben awakens and discovers Alex is gone, he has to make a decision.
From here the journey continues, does Ben go after Alex and the dog? Do they ever name the dog, do they fall in love, do they die or do they get rescued? Does Alex marry her fiancé, Mark (Dermot Mulroney), whom she talks about constantly during their ordeal or do Ben and Alex get married? How does it all end? Check it out, all questions will be answered — it’s really a good love story, right to the last scene!
I was really excited about seeing the second installment of Divergent. As it turns out, it’s much like Maze Runner and The Hunger Games. Not that it wasn’t good, it was a concept that was just too familiar, I felt cheated. As in Divergent, our future world is divided into 5 Factions: Dauntless, Factionless, Candor, Erudite and Divergent. All is good unless you fit into more than one Faction. Mainly, if you’re deemed a Divergent like Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Tris’ love interest, you’re doomed. That would make you too versatile. This is not what makes the movie like the others I’ve mentioned, it’s the outcome or the reason everything is the way it is. I kind of felt it was all for nothing. Their explanation of things was nothing new. I also found the movie to be a little slow, long and boring. Different groups of Factions were running around, trying to enforce indecisive plans that made no sense. Each Faction has a leader. Something like a governor and all Factions together has one leader, Jeanine (Kate Winslet), something like a president. Of course power goes to ones head and decisions are based on the president’s determination to keep things as they are, right or wrong. If you read between the lines, it’s obvious which Faction is most powerful, knowledgeable and forceful. Once you’ve figured that out, the whole thing just falls apart. The film focused on a box found in the wreckage of Abnegation and taken to Erudite where Jeanine claims the box holds a message from their founders. The problem is only a Divergent can open it, so Jeanine must capture the right Divergent who can pass vigorous test to open the box. There are plenty spurts of action and some exciting scenes but overall, Insurgent isn’t really that interesting. I would love to write spoilers for this, but I wouldn’t want to ruin things for those of you who are anxious about seeing Insurgent. Overall, wait for the DVD!
The trailers on Divergent were a little fuzzy, as I didn’t really get what the movie was all about. Now that I’ve seen it, I have to do a little comparison to The Hunger Games. Like the Hunger Games, the world was categorized into sections. In Divergent, there is 1 choice from the existing 5 categories one can choose to spend their life perusing. There’s no going back once the choice is made. Like Hunger Games, the government totally rules every aspect of your life.
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