i swear i have seen the edge before . in fact , it reminded me of the bear , the river wild , and other various films mixed into an entirely different film . however , the edge has done something that most action films should do , and that is add heart and characters we like to the plot . in doing so , the edge draws many more suspenseful moments out of cliched scenes than , say , the peacemaker . unfortunately , because of those overused moments , we can pretty much guess the outcome of the film . but leave it to screenwriter david mamet to add humor and a few surprises to mess with your head . one surprise , in particular , left me smiling just because mamet actually had the guts to add it to his script . action films are a dime a dozen in hollywood , and while they are somewhat successful at entertaining us , they lack the one thing which would make them a more respected genre : intelligence . even horror films have learned this , a genre which is probably the least respected of them all . the river wild was one of the best action/suspense films i have seen from the 90s . the intelligence of the screenplay , and the suspense drawn from the realistic characters is nearly unmatched to this day . the edge has the intelligence and smart characters , but this time the lack of originality is the downfall . i must admit that it was very suspenseful , and had an original third half , but the first hour and a half is riddled with cliches and plot holes . this is an example of the final act saving the film , instead of the other way around ( as in the lost world ) . if only the screenplay had maintained the final thirty minutes' intensity , it could have become a great action film ( and i use the term loosely ) . the edge is pretty much a survival-of-the-fittest film . but taking scream's lead , the edge makes fun of the genre's cliches , and then uses them ( though not quite as effectively ) . charles morse ( anthony hopkins ) is the main character , a rich and very intelligent man who wonders what the accumulation of all this knowledge has brought to him . for once , we don't immediately care for the main character . instead , we like bob ( alec baldwin ) , a photographer who is going to take pictures of charles' wife , mickey ( elle macpherson ) , out in the wilderness . they board a plane and head to a cabin somewhere in the arctic . charles' birthday is the same day , and he receives a gold watch from his wife , and a pocket knife from bob . as action films go , these items do have importance to the rest of the story , but quite a bit more than we first expect . soon , however , bob wants to find a native to shoot pictures of because of his " personality . " charles , bob , bob's assistant steve ( harold perrineau ) , and the pilot head off to find him , and as shown in the previews , hit a flock of birds flying south for the winter . down the plane goes , the pilot is killed , and the three are left to survive in the wilderness . director lee tamahori is aware of the silly plot which is about to follow , and therefore has to create original ways to approach the situations . he succeeds often enough for us to enjoy the film . take , for instance , the entire man-hunting bear plot . this has been done many times in films with different animals , and even bears . but given the charles' intelligence , and bob's uncertainty , many of the cliches are given fresh twists . even charles himself seems to have seen these action films before . my favorite line of the film comes from charles : " most people die in the wilderness because they didn't do the one thing that could save their life . . . thinking . " despite the predictability of the main plot , a subplot develops late in the film which took me by surprise , and made me smile when i realized that everything isn't as it seems anymore . i have to write cautiously as to not reveal this surprise , so instead i will avoid it entirely . the first two-thirds of the edge have many humorous moments to push it along , and some of charles' survival techniques seem possible , even making fire from ice . tamahori is able to create a lot of suspense from the stalking bear , but whenever the bear is present , the characters lose all sensibility . i have always wondered why characters in films walk over a log to get across water . why not do what an intelligent person would and crawl across ? i guess getting chased by a bear makes your thought process turn off for a while . thankfully , we already have begun to care for the characters , and so we let this small detail slide . but some of the technical details are awkward , such as the nice stitching done on the fur coat that charles and bob make ( where did they get thread and needles ? ) . the acting of the film is highly above average for a film of this nature , and borders on phenomenal . anthony hopkins gives a terrific performance , creating his most likeable and layered character since remains of the day . hopkins usually brings greatness to his roles , but here he exceeds at gaining the audiences' sympathy , something he definitely did not do in silence of the lambs . alec baldwin gives one of his best performances i have ever seen ( it sure is better from his fair game ) . baldwin can be a good or a bad character , and here he succeeds at both in a way . you can never quite guess if he is a nice or a vllainous character until the end , and baldwin is able to handle the double-natured photographer . elle macpherson gives a good performance , albeit slight . she isn't in the film all that much , but for the scenes she does have , she handles as an actress , not as a model . harold perrineau is a good actor , and his scenes are nice and underplayed . he is eliminated early , and i reveal nothing by saying this because it is inevitable and predictable . the edge is rated r for graphic violence , some gore , and language . some of the violence is a little too disturbing , even for me . this film is a nice change from the mindless action most of us are used to , but too many cliches bog it down . director tamahori has created a very smooth and suspenseful action film out of recycled parts . david mamet's script , though , has a lot of humor to keep the first hour afloat , and the acting is solid . the best thing about the script is the ending which doesn't end with the normal high-strung action sequence , but with a small detail involving a certain gift . it's a nice touch considering what we have had to go through with the bear . and by the way , most people laughed when the film faded to black due to a large credit to bart the bear . way to go , bart .
