Name: Retro Film Review: The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Item: The Ghost and the Darkness
Rating: 15
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

Roughly hundred years ago, before the traumatic experiences of 20th Century, most people within the realms of Western civilisation had almost fetishist faith in the power of science and technology. For them, superior technology gave the man tools to defeat the forces of nature - mountains, rivers, oceans, winds, plants, animals or native tribes. But sometimes those forces of nature used to hit back. The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996 period adventure directed by Stephen Hopkins, deals with one such incident.

It starts in 1896, in a time when the word "imperialism" wasn't as derogatory as it is today. By that time, few European powers have already carved up big chunks of African continent and began to bring benefits of Western civilisation to their new subjects and get filthy rich in the process. Of them all the most successful was British Empire, but holding newly acquired vast territories was different matter. Since Germans and French began their own rail lines in the close vicinity, British control over their section of East Africa depended on the railway link between their holdings in Uganda and bases in Kenya. Colonel John Henry Patterson (played by Val Kilmer), engineer who had earned great deal of experience in India, is summoned by railroad boss Robert Beaumont (played by Tom Wilkinson) and given task of building bridge over River Tsavo. As soon as he arrives at construction site, Patterson finds plenty of problems -Hindus, Muslims and native Africans within the workforce don't get along very well and the work camps are plagued by various diseases. But the greatest problem comes in the form of two lions that took workers as their favourite prey. Acting with unusual boldness, attacking people in broad daylight and in front of hundreds of terrified witnesses, those two beasts are soon given the nicknames "Ghost" and "Darkness" by natives who think of them as spirits that resist the white man's intrusion into Africa. While his terrified workforce begins to flee, Patterson is unable to hunt the lions so he must use services of great hunter Charles Remington (played by Michael Douglas). But even Remington's expertise seems powerless against almost supernatural cunningness of lions.

The Ghost and the Darkness was based on the real events, chronicled in Colonel Patterson's book and adapted for screen half a century ago in Bwana Devil. But the audience would probably think that the main source of inspiration was Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws (and the movie was later nicknamed "Jaws With Claws"). That was the most unfortunate thing for The Ghost and the Darkness, because the unavoidable comparisons between two films would prove to be disastrous for the new one. Veteran scriptwriter William Goldman follows the Jaws formula almost step-by-step, oblivious of the all potentials African period settings could have given to his script. Result is stale, predictable and cliched story that succumbs to 1990s Hollywood conventions - a lot of British-bashing, some "political correctness" and plenty of scenes that cause unpleasant "deja vu" efect. Director Hopkins, for his part, goes to almost ridiculous levels to copy Spielberg's films - lions in this film show point their tails over tall grass in order to signal the danger, just like shark's fin in Jaws did. Even composer Jerry Goldsmith "borrows" drums from John Williams' Jaws score. The acting is hardly stellar - Val Kilmer seems bored to death in his role, and Michael Douglas (whose character was more than obviously invented and given American nationality to get some extra cash at the American box office) spends all of his energy in few scenes of dancing with native warriors. All in all, The Ghost and the Darkness is nothing more than a cheap and uninspired imitation - a film that serves no purpose other than to remind the audience how great Jaws is.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 5th 2003)