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51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suspense light-years beyond Jaws, May 4, 2005
The Ghost and the Darkness is about the two maneating lions that terrorized the crew building a bridge at a desolate, nowhere place called Tsavo, Africa, circa 1890s, a place that had long been known as an area of active maneating lions. The original account written by Col. John H. Patterson, the engineer responsible for building the bridge and killing the lions (and played superbly by Val Kylmer), is one of the greatest Classics of African Hunting Literature ever written and known very well by legions of non-Bambi outdoor enthusiasts around the world. Subsequent accounts, the best of which is the well-researched wrtiing of 20th Century African hunter Peter Hathaway Capstick in his "Death in the Silent Places" and "The Maneaters of Tsavo" have become nearly as popular.
The movie does take some liberties with events but most of the key scenes in the movie actually happened though perhaps in a bit different context. For example, the movie has the den of the maneaters being found prior to the lions' deaths but it was actually found some weeks afterward. But that wasn't the point in 1898. The cave actually contained (as in the movie) the skeletal remains of hundreds of human victims, so many, in fact, the probability is that den had been used by maneaters for centuries. Not too surprising the crews and locals felt Tsavo was a place of Evil. Adding credibility to the longevity of use theory is the fact that four other maneaters who ran up a score of 50 souls in that same area were killed in a single day by hunter Robert Foran - in 1947. But wait. Professional hunter John Kingsley-Heath killed another maneater there too - in 1965. But wait - Peter Capstick's boss was killed and eaten not too far from Tsavo on Labor Day 1974. That's right - 1974. Where were YOU in 1974?
The African and Indian cultures of the 1890s weren't, and aren't, the United States. The liklihood these two lions would quickly be seen as "more than just lions", as some unstoppable Evil is more like a guarantee. The abject Terror of 2000-3000 African and Indian laborers was a real as Death itself. That Terror is amply displayed in the movie, but is still understated.
The movie's lions, even with their ominous role as "more than lions", act very much like real maneaters did, and do. And when they do it in a joust with unarmed humans, they usually win, bigtime, and assorted gore and human body parts are a consistant by-product of such festivities. I've never never read anything at all about a famous lioneater.
The movie's filming and effects are very good. Michael Douglas, as the ficticious hunter Remington, supports Kylmer well, and with a well-done, darkly amusing style. The "shock" scenes are "SHOCK" scenes, especially one in particular. You will FEEL your blood pressure drop to zero only to be red-lining again in a flash. You WILL hold your breath and you may regain it. Seriously, allowing a young child to watch this is probably not the best of ideas, and not because of the gore but because many of the scenes of the primal, nightmarish Horror these maneating lions deliver take place after dark and "after dark" is already an "iffy" proposition for many kids without the fangs of Hades clashing in their minds. Sweet Dreams.
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36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice try, August 2, 2001
By A Customer
I rented this movie and was not too impressed. Then I read _The Man-Eaters of Tsavo_, by J.H.Patterson, and rented the DVD again to compare it to the book. Unfortunately I think the film missed the real story. Patterson was not a struggling weakling who had to be saved by an American hunter; he was an accomplished hunter, he stopped the rebellion himself (and it was really a murder plot, not a riot), and he killed both lions himself. Michael Douglas' character never existed and Douglas hammed it up a bit too much, anyway. The true story was the terror of the nightly raids. Patterson felt helpless as he sat in trees night after night, hoping for a shot at the lions, but then only to hear terrified, agonized screams coming from other parts of camp. Instead of this nightmare, the film focuses on the tension of the hunting expeditions. Val Kilmer mentions 30 dead before we even know the lions have raided that much. The lions themselves were bigger and more frightening in the book. They were over 9 1/2 feet long, and had no manes so they could crawl through the tight, thorny bushes covering the land. They jumped over 9-foot-tall barricades and dragged their victims around by the throats. The Indian and African workers called them "the demons", so it's a wonder why the screenwriter chose the fictitious names for the film's title. The killing of the second man-eater is the most realistic because in truth, it took at least a half-dozen shots to take down these beasts, while they were charging at the men trying to kill them. Also the last human death in the story is realistic, because in the book Patterson tells the story of a man who was killed instantly in his bed when a lion bit through his temples and dragged his body out of the tent. Overall, I wish the screenwriter had focused on the terror of the nightly raids, though it may have been too graphic for audiences. Instead we're left with a mediocre action movie, with a couple of average-sized lions as the antogonists. Nice try.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scary, smart and atmospheric., October 17, 2001
The Ghost and the Darkness, an unexpected, dark, tantalising thriller is a total success. I didn't read much into this movie before viewing, but I came out really satisfied and although many critics disliked this movie, I thought it was highly entertaining, well executed and very scary. The film succeeds a lot thanks to the direction and visuals; the lions look truly fantastic! Wow! The other reason the movie really made me keep watching was for the atmosphere of the film. The camera angles, backgrounds, lions POV and stuff like that really gives the movie a real feeling. I personally felt like I was in Africa, running from the Ghost and the Darkness, experiencing the true terror of their roar. The film also gets high marks thanks to its very believable performances. Michael Douglas takes a surprising back seat, but it still a strong character in the film and plays out his tough character well. Val Kilmer is the star though. This is one of his best performances, he masters an Irish accent accurately, is a believable loving husband and a likeable bridge builder. The movie is not perfect however. I didn't really appreciate the voice-overs by the African friend and some of the lion attack sequences are cut too short. Despite that, the film is an atmospheric, amazingly true experience that - if you're like me - will leave you shaking and breathless. DVD STUFF: 1/5. Theatrical trailer and viewing options. How about commentaries, bloopers or an insight into the fascinating training of the lions? That would give this disappointing DVD way more credit.
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