The Mountain Between Us

A plane crash throws two strangers together in a fight for survival in THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US.

Fortunately, those two strangers are played by incredible actors.

Kate Winslet (Titanic, Revolutionary Road) is photo journalist Alex Martin. Stuck in Boise with every flight cancelled by an impending storm, she has to get to Denver and then home for her wedding the next day. She's impulsive, carefree and funny.

Idris Elba (Beasts of a Nation, Hobbs and Shaw) is Ben Bass, a neurosurgeon leaving a conference and anxious to get to an emergency surgery on a young patient. He's structured, in control and reserved.

When every flight is cancelled, they grab a small two engine charter to Denver, piloted by Walter (Beau Bridges) who seems to be winging it (no pun intended).

When they crash in the storm, its one of the best scenes in the film, done in one take with a camera that never stops roving inside the cabin as worry grows to terror.

Ben and Alex are thrust into relying on their wits and each other to try and save themselves on top of a massive mountain range.

Do they stay with the plane?

Do they go look for shelter?

I won't detail any more of the plot, as it took me some places I expected, but many places I didn't. Winslet and Elba are both excellent, creating two characters that must hold almost the entirety of the film. No problem there.

It's beautifully shot by Mandy Walker (Australia, Hidden Figures) and Directed by Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now).

Like Robert Zemekis terrific film "Castaway" with Tom Hanks, we get the chance to see these characters off the snowy mountain and in the normal world. These scenes are some of my favorites, as they wrestle with how they were brought together, what they faced and how it's impacted them forever.

Lesser actors may have made this feel more average, but Elba and Winslet say plenty, even when they're silent.

I'm apparently a sucker for a good romance movie buried under the sleek exterior of a survival thriller. THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US is enjoyable, exciting and perfect for any date night on the couch.

Love the ending. Idris and Kate get an A.