Yes, it's a survival movie, set in Alaska, with many MacGyver-esque tricks thrown in. But wait! It's not a simpleminded childrens' movie, it's a drama for adults, featuring a subplot about a cuckolded husband forced into a survival situation with his wife's lover. And, since the movie is scripted by David Mamet, this country's best writer of dialogue, it is a treat for both the mind and ear.
One cavil to begin with: why do tycoons in films these days always have to be billionaries? Are we so awash in "mere" millionaires that we must up the ante in our escapist fiction by a thousand times? I should hope that we are not yet so jaded. In any case, billionaire tycoon Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) flies off to Alaska on vacation with his entourage, including wife Mickey (Elle Macpherson) and photographer Bob (Alec Baldwin). It's Charles's birthday, and among his gifts are a book on wilderness survival, a hunting knife, and a watch. While it is obviously foreshadowed that all these will surface later in the movie as key elements in the fight for survival, it is interesting to watch how they will figure into the plot.
Since Bob is looking for an Indian model to photograph, he goes off deeper into the wilds of Alaska via a small plane. The plane crashes (otherwise there wouldn't be a movie) and the pilot is killed. The only survivors are Charles, Bob, and another entourage member, Stephen (Harold Perrineau). Stephen should be one worried guy: not only is he not as big a star as the other two, but he is black, and everyone knows that "the brother always dies first."
The main task the three face is to look for a place where search parties are likely to find them. As hours drag on into days, they also have to provide food and shelter for themselves, helped by Charles's wide readings and vast memory. Unfortunately for the survivors, it gets much worse. After one of the three is injured, the scent of blood lures a bear who begins stalking the men. Eventually, it becomes apparent that they must kill the bear.
Besides the excitement of the survival drama, there is also a human drama. By all rights, the younger, more vigorous, poorer Bob should do better in the wilderness than the aging, bookish Charles. That this is not so, that Charles continues to be unflappable in crisis is frustrating to Bob, who seems to carry a huge inferiority complex. Which, then, is the more dangerous enemy? Homo sapiens or Ursus horribilis?
The film's remainder consists of the quest for survival, building shelter, catching food, and attempting to kill the bear with stone age implements. The inevitable conflict between Bob and Charles must also be resolved by film's end.
David Mamet provides the year's best dialogue in the film's screenplay, creating a pair of indelible figures for Hopkins and Baldwin to play. Mamet's words are like some beautifully profane poetry: note, for example, the rhythms and cadences of the "what one man can do, another can do" speech as the survivors psych each other up to hunt the bear. Hopkins fits into the rhythm perfectly, Baldwin (who was sensational in the Mamet-scripted Glengarry Glen Ross) almost as good. Elle Macpherson still does not convince as a thespian, but she is infinitely better here than in Batman and Robin.
Production values are outstanding, particularly the cinematography by Donald McAlpine. Jerry Goldsmith provides a majestic score, his best work of the year, far superior to his lackluster settings of Air Force One and L.A. Confidential. Bart the Bear, as well as his various trainers and handlers, deserves recognition for presenting a portrait of death as a force of nature. In this fil, Bart is an unstoppable killing machine, much like the shark in Jaws.
This movie was unjustly overlooked when it was released is now being ignored as awards and award nominations are handed out. A pity, as the film is very good, one of the best and most intelligent action films of the year.
Three-and-a-half stars
Copyright 1998 by Dale G. Abersold
