The Edge A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1997 by Michael Redman
** (out of ****)
This is the tale of survival in the wilderness: men against bear. No, wait, it's really about of two rivals for the same woman. No, no, the real story is a man's discovery of his unknown inner resources. Hold on, it's "Grizzly Adams" but with big town socialites.
It's truly all of these things and this is a prime example of the whole being lesser than the sum of the parts.
Although the Canadian Rockies scenery (standing in for the film's Alaska) is magnificent, in typical David Mamet form, the movie could be a filmed play. There are only two main characters (three, if you count the bear) and the supposed focus in on the interaction between them.
Bookwormish billionaire Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) decides to go on location with his trophy wife, super model Mickey (Elle MacPherson) to Alaska. His hidden motive is to find out if the ultra babe is making time with her photographer Bob Green (Alec Baldwin).
This rapidly takes a back seat when a plane with the billionaire (but not his wife - this is not "Gilligan's Island"), the photographer and his assistant crash lands in the wilderness, miles from civilization. Now survival is all that matters and when a man-eating Kodiak bear shows up, the rivalry is all but forgotten.
As the two stars and the "other guy" emerge from the wreckage, it's reminiscent of the original "Star Trek" series when the Kirk, Spock and Scotty beams down to a new planet with an unnamed crew member. You know that it's just a matter of time before you hear "He's dead, Jim" and there's no question who the statement is about.
Luckily for the group, Morse has a photographic memory and even better, he's just been reading a book on how to survive when lost in the wilds. Before you know it, there's a compass made from a paper clip, navigating by the stars and talk of making a fire from an ice lens. All this from a guy who describes himself as having no imagination.
Much has been made as to this film being the story of the triumph of the thinking man over nature. While this is certainly a portion of what is going on, other aspects of the human condition are just as important to survival. The high point of the movie is two men fighting a monstrous bear armed with only sharpened burnt sticks and a plan. While they do have a blueprint for their battle, it would never work unless they reach down inside to come up with the primal energy for the combat.
There's a good film hidden inside of this mish-mash. For a few minutes before the bear battle until about a half hour afterwards, a mini-movie exists that, had it been all there was, could be highly recommended.
Unfortunately before that point there are far too many scenes of "Oh no, we're going to die!" "No, we're not. We have to push on." Then a different person flips out and another pulls him together. And then it happens again and again. We get the message the first time. It might be realistic, but not everything that could possibly happen has to end up on film.
Later in the film as the confrontation between Morse and Green heats up, the movie falls apart. Not much is believable and, even worse, we don't care.
Hopkins is a fine actor and his presence is almost enough to carry the film. Almost. His reluctant hero is credible and the transformation meaningful. The film would have worked better if he had to struggle alone.
Baldwin is usually at least adequate in his roles, but doesn't do well with what is admittedly a character without much to offer. It doesn't help that the adversarial relationship between the men is much less interesting than when they work together.
The rest of the actors have mere bit parts. MacPherson has shown some talent in other films, but here her function is the same as the mountains: something nice to look at.
The big star of the film is the extraordinarily beautiful scenery, but that's not enough to make it work. It would be nice to also have a plot that held our interest.
[This appeared in the 10/2/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
-- mailto:mredman@bvoice.com
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