THE EDGE (20th Century Fox) Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, Harold Perrineau, Elle Macpherson. Screenplay: David Mamet. Producer: Art Linson. Director: Lee Tamahori. MPAA Rating: R (profanity, violence) Running Time: 113 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
There's a fundamental problem with the two principle characters writer David Mamet drops into his wilderness adventure THE EDGE. Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) is a multimillionaire businessman who accompanies his wife, a model named Mickey (Elle Macpherson), on a location shoot in the Arctic; Bob (Alec Baldwin) is the fashion photographer who seems a bit too interested in his subject. When a plane crash leaves Charles, Bob and an assistant named Steve (Harold Perrineau) stranded miles from civilization, the three men are forced to work together, use their wits and overcome their antagonisms in order to survive.
That should have been the idea, anyway. THE EDGE is a wilderness adventure which also wants to be a psychological drama, but forgets to develop a convincing conflict between the two leads. In fact, there are precious few screen minutes of any kind between Charles and Bob before the are stuck together. The rivalry over Mickey is clearly meant as the main grudge between them, but that conflict doesn't develop until quite late in the film. For the most part, antagonism between Charles and Bob is presented as a given. After all, there's a beautiful woman involved, envy of wealth, stressful situations...what's not to be antagonistic over?
For one thing, the situations aren't all that stressful, thanks to an inherent lack of tension in the characters. On the one hand there's Bob, who proves to be a poor choice of roles for Alec Baldwin. Baldwin can be as menacing as they come when he's allowed to swagger a bit; Bob, however, is generally too dim to be much of a challenge to Charles, or much of a help to their mutual survival. Charles, on the other hand, turns out to be as filthy smart as he is filthy rich. Every trivial piece of information he has ever read has become part of his photographic memory, making him a walking encyclopedia of primitive anthropology, basic physics, first aid, forestry, engineering and alternative cures for side-aches. As you watch Charles fashion a compass from a magnetized pin and a floating leaf, or construct a squirrel trap from bent twigs, or go fishing with a thread from his sweater and a watch fob, you get the distinct impression that you're watching a portrait of MacGyver as an older man. There's no reason to be worried about whether Charles will make it. He can do anything, and he knows it.
And it's too bad that there isn't more drama to the characters in THE EDGE, because in concept and execution it's often a thrilling adventure. Director Lee Tamahori (ONCE WERE WARRIORS) crafts some fine action sequences, notably those involving the survivors' ongoing battle with a mythically persistent man-eating bear. As photographed by Donald McAlpine, THE EDGE is a satisfying experience both visually and viscerally.
Intellectually, it's an ambitious disappointment. Stories set in the wild usually assume that returning to a state of nature is the only way a human can survive away from civilization, which makes it refreshing to find a story which assumes that reason is an even more effective survival tool. It's particularly surprising that the writer is Mamet, who has been known to have his characters turn animalistic while sitting at a desk. (Which isn't to say that you can't spot a bit of cynicism creeping in -- it's hard to believe that he named his supermodel character "Mickey Morse" by accident). But THE EDGE isn't exactly about people forced to live by their wits. It's about one man who treats Arctic survival as a routine open-book test, while a more simple-minded classmate cribs from his answers.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 bear necessities: 5.
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