The high-altitude drama The Mountain Between Us wisely understands that it really only needs a few things to get its job done - a dramatic situation, a beautiful but treacherous location and two intensely charismatic, attractive people smack in the middle of both.
Story-wise, there's not really much to this adaptation of Charles Martin's novel about two mismatched strangers forced to rely on one another to survive following a plane crash in a wintry, isolated mountain range. Brain surgeon Ben (Idris Elba) and photojournalist Alex (Kate Winslet) are equally (and obviously) frustrated by the stormy weather that has grounded their commercial flight - she's en route to her wedding to Mark (Dermot Mulroney), he has an operation to perform. So Alex proposes the two hire a charter plane to get them to their destination.
When the pilot (Beau Bridges) suffers a fatal stroke mid-flight, however, the plane crashes, leaving them stranded alone high in the mountains. (Well, not totally alone - the pilot's golden retriever also survives.) The cautious, logical Ben believes they have a better chance of being rescued if they stay where they are. But the driven Alex, despite a broken leg, is keen to leave the wreckage behind and make her way down the mountain. And when she takes off (with the dog in tow), Ben feels obliged to follow. It's a slow journey in freezing conditions, perhaps more frustrating than truly perilous, but exposure and exhaustion slowly start taking their toll. And the longer Alex and Ben spend battling the elements, the closer they become to one another.
That may not sound especially compelling, but the screenplay by Chris Weitz and J Mills Goodloe has the ring of truth when it conveys the conflicting swirl of emotions between the two characters. Alex and Ben clearly view life very differently - she's inclined to act on instinct and follow her heart, while the pragmatic Ben gruffly points out the heart is merely a muscle - but they're also level-headed enough to realise how much they need each other. And Winslet and Elba are also talented enough to express the messiness and confusion of that mutual need evolving into a shared attraction.
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Oscar-nominated Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad presents all of these parts of the story - struggling to survive, wrestling with mixed emotions - with a pleasing delicacy and restraint, which mostly works in the film's favour, although there are times when The Mountain Between Us could stand to ramp up the tension or danger. And the director is also savvy enough to realise that when he needs to capture the audience's attention, all he has to is shoot a close-up of Winslet or Elba, two of the planet's better-looking individuals.
