**Warning: Contains Spoilers**
Ben (Idris Elba) needs to get back home to perform an operation but when his flight is cancelled he finds himself with the prospect of being stuck at the airport overnight. Alex (Kate Winslet) was booked on the same flight and it is the day before she is due to get married. She suggests to him that they hire a small charter plane. However, the pilot falls ill during the flight and they crash into a remote snow covered mountain. Ben, Alex, and the pilot’s dog survive and the strangers have to work together to survive.
With that set-up and performers of the quality of the two leads this was never going to be a film without merits. Indeed, both are fine enough in the roles and apart from the last segment the film doesn’t flag: but it never had me fully gripped. Despite their life threatening conditions, director Hany-Abu Assad never quite provides the level of tension required, and the stranded pair look too well-groomed and healthy throughout.
Despite going days with barely any food they appear well nourished and, in a spectacularly misguided scene, find the inclination and energy to have sex after only sharing one can of soup for the last three days and not bathing for over three weeks.
The initial crash is well-staged and their desperate walk to civilisation covering the last couple of days of their ordeal finally brings the jeopardy the film needs. But the scenes after they are rescued fall flat and ultimately the film is kept afloat by the stars.