THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS
A film review by Michael Redman
Copyright 1996 Michael Redman
**1/2 (out of ****)
In a film based on a true story, Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas team up to hunt down ghostly man-eating lions and build a bridge in turn of the century Africa. Now there's a high concept.
Bridge-builder John Patterson (Kilmer) is sent to darkest Africa in 1898 to help the British empire win the race to colonize the continent. His project is going along well until the Indian and African workers start getting eaten by large cats. And not just ordinary cats. The two deadly and massive male lions hunt together, drag off full grown men from the compound, attack in broad daylight and frighten the workers so badly that they name them the Ghost and the Darkness.
Patterson is unable to "sort out" the problem so his bosses call in famed hunter Charles Remington (Douglas), a Confederate States Of America expatriate. Together the two attempt to put an end to the devastation only to discover that the killers seem to be something more than just animals. Plans fall apart, traps fail and the lions appear to be killing for the pleasure of it.
There's blood wherever you look in the film. Every couple of minutes the lions are ripping someone apart. People with an aversion to gore might want to skip this: theres more internal organs here than in a "Friday The 13th" film.
Patterson and Remington are a study in contrasts. The Englishman is prim and proper even in the bush country while the southerner dances with the Masai warriors. Kilmer holds back while Douglas tries to let it all out. Even with all of his experiences, Patterson is a little too stiff to even have high tea with. Remington is the unpredictable loud drunken obnoxious guy that you shy away from at late night parties.
Unfortunately Douglas cant quite pull it off. An admirable actor, he has the Great White Hunter bit down pat, but doesn't do Wild Man as well. When dancing with the African lion hunters, he looks like one of the whitest men in the hemisphere.
Neither of the stars are tremendously likable or believable. Much more interesting is the supporting cast and, of course, the magnificent scenery. As dramatic as the story is, it rarely catches fire. Supernatural lions, death and destruction, midnight hunts, majestic locale and yet it all just sits there waiting for something to happen.
[This appeared in "The Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana, 10/17/96. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com]
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