6 Below

ANDY’S RATING: ★★

In cinemas on Friday

SEVEN years ago, Danny Boyle made 127 Hours, an unbearably tense true-life drama about a mountaineer who got his hand stuck behind a boulder.

Scott Waugh, director of 6 Below, had even better raw material for his true-life survival story.

Drug-addicted former hockey player Eric LeMarque was a more conflicted hero and his Sierra Nevada ordeal lasted longer and had a more picturesque backdrop.

Yet where Boyle’s film had me on the edge of my seat, this one had me looking at my watch.

Josh Harnett soon wears out his range of anguished expressions as lost off-piste snowboarder LeMarque is chased by wolves, dumped into a frozen lake and hit with lousy phone reception.

Meanwhile, his ridiculously younglooking mum (Mira Sorvino, just 11 years Harnett’s senior) and the world’s most glam mountain rescue officer (Sarah Dumont) are studying maps and trying to summon up tension.

It has its moments, but clunky writing, bad casting and leaden directing make it a little too hard to care.