There have been many mountaineering movies, mostly action adventures such as Sylvester Stallone’s Cliffhanger, or Vertical Limit. But there’s nothing like real life to stir the emotions, as demonstrated by Kevin MacDonald’s documentary Touching The Void, whose talking heads evoked the life-or-death drama of the peaks.

With Everest, the Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur seeks to combine those two tendencies – big-budget spectacle with the piquancy of a true story – in a film that recreates the 1996 disaster on Everest, in which a savage storm descended upon climbers as they attempted the summit.

The film follows two separate expeditions, reflecting the growing trend for high-end tours to Everest for enthusiastic amateur climbers. New Zealander Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and American Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) are the two very different professionals leading rival companies – the sober, safety-conscious Hall’s Adventure Consultants, the more relaxed Fischer’s Mountain Madness.

Fischer asserts that "it's not the altitude, it's the attitude" that matters when climbing the big peaks. There’s a bigger question, which is whether it's advisable to take amateurs, even skilled ones, on such an arduous and risky adventure at all. It’s an issue that the film doesn’t shy away from. As the tragedy unfolds, we’ll see it has as much to do with human frailty and folly as nature.

While the climbers acclimatise at the mountain’s base camp, screenwriters Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and William Nicholson (Gladiator) ensure that we have a solid understanding of the physical and technical considerations for a safe climb – such as the importance of oxygen and correct equipment, and the integral role of the Sherpas. We’re also introduced to the character dynamics that will come into play during the assent, especially the rivalry between the teams and the pressures put on Rob by his two most determined clients – postman-turned-climber Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), who wants to inspire his local kids, and ball-breaking thrill-seeker Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin).

A problem for everyone that year was that there were 20 teams on the mountain, all vying for the optimum window in the weather. In parallel, a problem for the film’s first half is that there are way too many characters, many blending into each other and with some good actors providing little more than cameos. At the same time, Brolin’s innately forceful nature means he’s well cast, but on this occasion something of a blunt instrument; it’s impossible to sympathise with or understand this central character.

Filming at the foot of Everest but more prominently in the Dolomites, and with visual effects and 3D augmenting the live action, Kormákur and cinematographer Salvatore Totino make us feel as though we’re scarily up close with the characters on their increasingly dangerous assent. It really is spectacular. And our immersion in the drama is highlighted when Kormákur suddenly cuts to Hall's pregnant wife Jan (Keira Knightley), in bed in their New Zealand home; the jolt, from the noise and peril on the mountain to the silent peace of a domestic space, is as shocking as anything else we experience.

Clarke presents a beautiful portrait of a man who is brave, resourceful, but perhaps a little too compassionate for his own good. Gyllenhaal offers a good foil, all hippy cool and bravado. Despite acknowledging errors of judgement, this ultimately heartbreaking film also captures the romance, misguided or otherwise, of what drives these men and women to take such risks.

Even if you know the outcome, the likelihood is that you’ll spend much of the latter stages on the edge of your seats; if you don’t know, then don’t spoil it by finding out.