The Edge (1997)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
The plane carrying wealthy Charles Morse crashes down in the Alaskan wilderness. Together with the two other passengers, photographer Robert and assistant Stephen, Charles devises a plan to help them reach civilization. However, his biggest obstacle might not be the elements, or even the Kodiak bear stalking them -- it could be Robert, whom Charles suspects is having an affair with his wife and would not mind seeing him dead.
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What critics say influenced The Edge
But if he'd underlined every laugh line and made the humor as broad as “ The Naked Gun ,” would that have made a better picture?
Mamet, who wrote the award-winning plays "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo," as well as the screenplays for "The Verdict" and "The Untouchables," tackles a couple of Hollywood's hoariest cliches with "The Edge" the outdoor action/adventure and "buddy" film genres.
What we haven't seen, however, is a taut adventure story from director Lee Tamahori (who, in Once Were Warriors, showed an exceptional ability to convey psychological tension using geographical landscape).
Too subtle, apparently, for some; I've read a couple of reviews by critics who think director Lee Tamahori (“ Once Were Warriors ”) misses the point of the Mamet screenplay and plays the material too straight.
Director Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors") focuses on his rich central characters and provides occasional heart-stopping thrills, but it's never enough to make us stop thinking about how much smarter we are than the stars.
After a fine debut with Once Were Warriors , he helmed the troubled Mulholland Falls .
Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors") directs and David Mamet writes a back to nature tale set in the Alaskan wilds, that unsuccessfully mixes melodrama with action/adventure and satire.
Director Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors) makes the most of this wilderness struggle situation.
This, then, is what happens when Mamet sends men outside to play, monitored by Tamahori: They one-up each other with the kind of energized, hammering dialogue previously heard in such phallocentric indoor settings as con artist dens (House of Games) and real estate offices (Glengarry Glen Ross).
Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) is bored with his comfortable existence and quietly distressed at the creeping suspicion that his younger, fashion-model model wife Mickey (Elle Macpherson) loves his money but seeks sexual satisfaction elsewhere—in particular with a photographer named Bob (Alec Baldwin, amusingly following up on his beloved, nasty cameo in Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross).
Mamet, who wrote the award-winning plays "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "American Buffalo," as well as the screenplays for "The Verdict" and "The Untouchables," tackles a couple of Hollywood's hoariest cliches with "The Edge" the outdoor action/adventure and "buddy" film genres.