The Edge

1997 man movie

Rating: 15/20

Plot: A rich guy, his hot wife, a photographer who may or may not be sleeping with his hot wife, and a bunch of other people venture out into the middle of nowhere to take some pictures. While looking for an Indian's wrinkles, their little plane crashes, and the two guys on the poster up there and one black guy who isn't on the poster have to try to find a way back to civilization while avoiding the jaws of the bear on that poster up there.

The situation of these characters seems completely implausible here. Alec Baldwin, giving a really inflated and inconsistent performance, plays a character who can only exist in a movie, a sort of caricature of assholery or personified douche. And I don't like when movies have characters who seem artificially intelligent, and Anthony Hopkins (excuse me, Sir Anthony Hopkins) is the type of guy with a photographic memory who makes you want to roll your eyes every time he starts to talk about something he knows that you don't. His first line contains a grammatical error anyway, so really, how smart can the guy be? And Elle Macpherson. I've had better and don't think she's worthy of Helen of Troy face-that-launched-a-thousand-ships status. Plus, her name's Mickey Morse in this. You'd think somebody involved in the screenwriting process would see that on the page and say, "Maybe that'll come across as silly," and reach for the white-out. But none of that matters because this movie is saved by the performance of Bart the Bear. I thought Bart looked familiar and looked him up. Turns out that he's the son of the female bear who fights Leslie Nielson in the wonderful Day of the Animals. Bart the Bear had quite the acting career but was unfortunately typecast and never got a chance to show any versatility. But man, he's good here. I'm not sure if a non-human can be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, but Bart should have. He's just that good in this movie. I imagine there were some special effects used in this, so we can't be sure how much of the scenes with Bart and the actors involved both Bart and the actors, but it all looked flawless to me. Bart was sometimes shown in long shots, surrounded by mist or trees and foliage. He looks freakin' intimidating. And there are times when Bart the Bear just fills the screen, baring teeth and growling. He looks freakin' intimidating then, too. It's just an amazing performance. Hopkins, a hack compared to Bart, does his best to keep up, moving from calm to growling about blood and screaming things like, "Today, I'm gonna kill the mother fucker" or "Come and get me, you motherfucker!" but Bart the Bear's thunderous motherfuckers hit the viewer harder. I assume Bart threw out a few motherfuckers anyway. There weren't subtitles for his lines. "I'm going to tear you to pieces like [Spoiler Alert] I did that black guy, you motherfuckers!" I don't speak bear, but it doesn't take a genius to translate some of this. Nature lovers, at least those who don't mind watching the occasional animal die, will have a lot to love here, scenery that you just want to absorb. The movie's all peaks and trees and chilly waters and unbroken snow. I also thought the music in this was tremendous, especially the little theme that plays whenever the bear makes an appearance. That's Jerry Goldsmith who scored a few notable films in his career. The Edge is a wilderness survival story that you might have trouble buying combined with a human conflict element that you also might have trouble buying, but they wind up adding up to something that is consistently intense.

Josh, founder of the Bart the Bear fan club, recommended this motherfucker.