Little chemistry between us as dog steals show

Based on the novel by Charles Martin, The Mountain Between Us follows two strangers, surgeon Ben (Idris Elba) and photojournalist Alex (Kate Winslet), who find that both their plane flights have been cancelled due to stormy weather.

They both board an uncharted flight to get where they need to go, however things go awry when the plane crashes into a snowy mountain range.

With only each other and the pilot’s dog to rely on, these two strangers must journey across the harsh wilderness in order to get back to civilisation, developing feelings for one another along the way.

Okay. That’s how I’d best describe this film. While Idris Elba and Kate Winslet do give good performances, their actual characters could be a lot better.

The same thing can be said about their romantic chemistry: it’s not horrible, but not great.

The pacing also tends to be a bit all over the place. You have no idea how much time has passed until someone says so. Not to mention, the finale is a bit of a drag.

That’s not to say there weren’t some good things to this film. Every shot you get of the mountain landscape is just stunning, even to an extent of sometimes overshadowing the characters.

The dog in this film is also just too cute.

While logically you do wonder how he managed to survive three weeks in the snowy wilderness, he’s just so awesome that he honestly became one of my favourite aspects of the film.

In the end, though it wasn’t a great film, I still managed to enjoy it.