Review: The Edge (1997) A movie review by David Sunga
Directed by: Lee Tamahori
Written by: David Mamet
Starring: Bart the Bear, Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, Elle Macpherson. Harold Perrineau, L.Q. Jones, Kathleen Wilhoite, and David Lindstedt
Interesting note: David Mamet, the writer of this movie, is a renowned American playwright who was born in Chicago in 1947. Mamet is best known for slick macho city guy characters and their egos and posturing. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross. His films include ‘The Verdict,' ‘The Untouchables,' ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice,' and ‘Hoffa.'
Ingredients: A bookworm, a sleazeball who covets the bookworm's wife, a plane crash, lots of Alaskan wilderness, a man-eating bear
Synopsis: Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) is a wealthy but socially awkward bookworm who suspects his beautiful supermodel wife (Elle Macpherson) might be having an affair with virile morally bankrupt photographer Robert Green (Alec Baldwin). From this point on, foreshadowing is the name of the game. While on a plane, Charles happens to be reading a book called "How to Survive in the Wilderness." And in the first few minutes of the movie, the dialogue between various characters covers the fact that birds can cause a plane to crash, and that bears in Alaska sometimes stalk human victims. So from the very start, we can guess what will happen to a tiny bush plane carrying both Charles and Robert over Alaska for a photo shoot. The trouble is, Charles' wife and Robert are far from virtuous. Will Robert take the opportunity to kill off Charles? Will a bear kill them both? Will they kill the bear? All we in the audience have to do now is sit back, live theater style, and watch the actors and the bear hash out their differences.
Opinion: It seems like every word spoken or every action taken in the beginning of the 'The Edge' - - no matter how insignificant - - is foreshadowing for something that occurs before the movie ends. Not a word is wasted. Even when Charles receives an engraved timepiece it's really just foreshadowing for the presenting of an engraved timepiece later on in the story. This "Murphy's Law" quality, as every single word or action comes back to haunt, makes the movie seem more tongue-in-cheek. Envision two men on a park bench acting out a dramatic situation concerning a wife, and then place the men on a log in the middle of the Alaskan forest instead. Throw in a few homicidal bear attacks and see how they get out of each dilemma.
Movie reviewed by David Sunga
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