6 Below – 6 Below: Miracle on the Mountain (2017)

Directed by: Scott Waugh | 98 minutes | adventure, biography | Actors: Josh Hartnett, Mira Sorvino, Sarah Dumont, Kale Culley, Jason Cottle, Austin R. Grant, Nathan Stevens, Marty McSorely, Sean Pilz, Vashi Nedomansky, Joey Miyashima, David H. Stevens, Beth Waugh, R. Curt Kelsey, Judi Carpenter

If survival movies can teach us anything about human nature, it’s that humans can be very irrational creatures at times. Adventurers often end up in a tricky situation by just taking that other side path, or just entering that slope that is really off-limits. The American film ‘6 Below’ by director Scott Waugh (who previously directed the film version of ‘Need for Speed’) fits in well with this list: a troubled protagonist makes a stupid decision and then ends up in a precarious situation for days.

‘6 Below’ (subtitle: ‘Miracle on the Mountain’) tells the story of Eric LeMarque (Josh Hartnett, best known for action films like ‘Pearl Harbor’ and ‘Lucky Number Slevin’). Eric, once a gifted ice hockey talent, has gone down hill and struggles with the consequences of a serious drug addiction. As a result, his mother (Mira Sorvino, known for ‘Mighty Aphrodite’) wants to force him to kick the habit through the courts. Overwhelmed by the stress, Eric decides to take a break and go snowboarding for a few days. When the weather quickly deteriorates and Eric (of course) stubbornly chooses to hit the black slopes, the situation spirals out of control and Eric finds himself hopelessly lost in the wilderness, without food and range. His dire situation gives him the opportunity to look back on his turbulent childhood and difficult relationship with his parents.

The premise of ‘6 Below’ (based on a true story) is not very original: we have seen these kinds of survival films in all shapes and sizes before. Because the leeway is often limited by the focus on one person, these kinds of films are often heavily dependent on the acting, for example the strong James Franco in ‘127 Hours’. However, Hartnett lacks the charisma and finesse to really convince in this role. This makes it difficult to empathize with his character, making the film quite a struggle. The flashbacks make a nice attempt to give Eric some depth, but are often too messy and poorly filmed to make an impact.

Another underlying theme is the relationship between Eric and his mother. Not a bad endeavor in itself, were it not for the fact that Mira Sorvino doesn’t exactly excel in her role, not to mention the small age difference between Hartnett and Sorvino (about eleven years). Such an age difference does not necessarily have to get in the way of the film, but it does make the mother-son relationship very unbelievable. In addition, the film never really gets exciting and, despite the relatively short playing time, the viewing is quite a long sitting. The obligatory flashbacks mean that the film mainly ripples along a bit, and therefore lacks any form of urgency and tension. In the inevitable final piece, the sentiment of the viewer is then quite shamelessly played on, in a film in which (Christian) faith plays a prominent role in any case (one of the taglines of the film was ‘find your faith’).

The conclusion is that ‘6 Below’ is just a very mediocre film. The acting is (heavily) below average, the script too easygoing and the characters too flat to stick. The images in the snow look nice, but the film does not rise above average in that respect either. If you’re a big fan of survival movies, it’s best to catch this one on a free afternoon, but the seasoned movie viewer will probably forget ‘6 Below’ immediately after seeing the film.