The Edge (1997)

I don't really want to like this movie. Some aspects of the story just don't seem believable. But I guess that's not the point of the film.

I've always liked survival stories: Robinson Crusoe, Alive, Cast Away, etc. I wanted to participate in the Survivor series, not for the $1 million, but for the experience: marooned! Yeah! Watching The Edge kind of gets me going thinking "what are they doing sleeping at the top of a mountain?" and "as if they would ever try to trap a squirrel."

Though survival is the conscious desire and it is also what drives the plot, the most satisfying element is the subtle transformation of the billionaire played almost too subtly by Anthony Hopkins. In the beginning, he reveals that his life doesn't have much meaning as he can have whatever he wants and his head is full of knowledge, but he never has opportunity to test himself. As my friend Bernd says, he needed to "test the fabric of his being." Alec Baldwin does his character very well too, with lots of slobber and snot.

The stunts look quite real too, and I was impressed how the actors tore through the woods. I imagine they scraped themselves up quite good.

Though I have admired several of screenplay writer David Mamet's films before (Oleanna and State and Main), the opening 10 minutes of this film are way too wooden. The obvious foreboding regarding the rich guy's wife and a looming plane crash are almost unbearable.

Kudos to Bart the Bear too. Very ferocious!! I don't want to forget to mention that this was all filmed in and near Banff, so it was cool to see mountains that were quite recognizable. Very majestic!!

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