Rating: 3.5/5

A tale of survival, adventure, and perseverance, The Mountain Between Us is, for the most part, an interesting and entertaining movie.

Professional photographer Alex (Kate Winslet) and neurosurgeon Ben (Idris Elba) have both had their flights cancelled and need to get Denver by morning. Alex gets the idea of chartering a plane and asks Ben if he would like to take the flight as well. While in the air, their pilot suffers a stroke and they crash down into the mountains.

With the pilot dead, the two of them and the pilot's dog must find a way to survive. They wait as long as they can in the wreckage of the plane, but soon they run out of food and no one has come to rescue them. Much to Ben's dismay, Alex makes the decision to begin descending the mountain, and knowing he can't stay behind alone, he follows.

The Mountain Between Us is a film where the middle is fast paced and intriguing, but the beginning and end could use some work. It seems to be one of those times where the film has a great central concept, but the creators don't know what to do before or after the idea of their main storyline. Given that the film is primarily about the two character's survival in the wilderness, it is only natural that there is very little to the beginning of the film before they get onto the plane. That being said, it feels a little rushed, as if they were just haphazardly throwing in details about the characters to try and give the audience a sense of who these people were before their plane plummeted to the ground.

The actors are put through hell and back to bring the sense of realism to the film that it has. The misery they seem to feel while surviving on the snow covered mountains most likely didn't need to involve much acting, given that the two cast members were truly put through the hardships their characters were . When it comes to the chemistry between the two, their relationship seems natural and honest when they are in the wilderness, but awkward and forced when they are out of the mountains at any time.

The Mountain Between Us may have some questionable moments scattered throughout its' run time, but the harrowing tale of survival is compelling enough to make for a decent addition to the survival-film genre.