This Day in Theaters: Sept 26, 1997

The Edge (1997)

 

If I was making a list of underrated movies, hmm there's an idea, this movie would definitely make the Top 10. The plot revolves an older man played by Anthony Hopkins and the man his trophy wife his having an affair with, who is played by Alec Baldwin, surviving in the North American wilderness. To complicate things the reason they are stranded is due to a plane crash so their situation is unknown to the friends and family and to top it all off they are being stalked by a Kodiak bear. Not only do they have to hold themselves together through what they can only suspect is their slow demise but they have to work together enduring so very this tension regarding the infidelity.

Rogert Ebert: 

"It's about con games and occult knowledge, double crosses and conversations at cross-purposes. Its key scenes involve two men stalking each other, and it adds to the irony that they are meanwhile being stalked by a bear. `Most people lost in the wild die of shame,' the older character tells the younger. `They didn't do the one thing that could save their lives--thinking.''' 

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle:

"The picture loses all linear structure, and the Mamet undercurrent of hostility and malice is hard to track. Every sequence is identical: A threat to the men's survival is introduced and must be overcome. The movie depends on the intrinsic interest of each episode to hold the viewer. Yet, surprisingly enough, "The Edge" keeps the thread unbroken -- or rather, Hopkins does it."

 

Bart the Bear

Some people, and critics, tend to find this film repetitive and cliched but I guess it depends on how you approach The Edge. Are you going in expecting to be awed by the grandeur of the silver screen or do you want to have 120 minutes of fun? I always go for the latter. Baldwin and Hopkins were great in their roles, as was Bart the Bear in his, and the story moved a long nicely with a few curve balls and nail biting situations to keep you entertained. The directing was sufficient as was the dialogue so you don't have really any head scratching "what were they thinking" moments. This is one of the cases where I have to disagree with the negative reviews;but I do give the critics the benefit of the doubt since many of them were probably fixated on the David Mamet writing credit and comparing it to his previous works when this is more of a stand alone. If you are looking for some good old fashion 90s entertainment check this one out.

IMDb Score: 6.8

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 60%