User Reviews

...Well according to Hollywood anyway, since "The Ghost and the Darkness" actually takes lots of liberties with its story, about the two man-eating lions of Tsavo. Quite odd since it presses in the beginning that everything you're about to see in this movie, no matter how unbelievable it seems, has truly occurred. Oh well, just a good and clever marketing trick, lets leave it to that. No way they can pull off a trick like this now days in the days of Internet, were with only a few clicks you can look up an historical event. Of course the biggest difference between the truth and fiction is the Remington (Michael Douglas) character, who never existed in real life and also the looks of the lions, who in real life were not maned. But oh well, are these movie changes bad or not believable? No, it strengthens the story and makes it all even more interesting to watch.

I've always loved watching "The Ghost and the Darkness". It's a great adventurous movie with action in it and some good characters, all set in a beautiful environment.

The story is perfectly adventurous and action filled. It's all the more amazing knowing that the story has actually occurred in real life, over an hundred years ago already. The movie and its story is kept simple and allows its images and characters to tell the story.

What I like about the movie is that it fully treats the 'Ghost' and the 'Darkness' (the nicknames of the two man-eating lions) as movie characters. It shows them as smart thinking creatures and not simply just as 'monsters', even though they kill for pleasure (at least in the movie they do).

The movie is definitely helped by its environment and atmosphere. The beautiful African land serves as a perfect backdrop for the movie and also works quite claustrophobic, since the movie is for most part set at just this one location (the railroad and bridge building-site). Also the great Jerry Goldsmith musical score suits the environment and perfectly adds to the atmosphere of the entire movie, as does the cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond.

Michael Douglas plays a good role and actually shows with this movie how versatile he is as an actor, though his role is definitely smaller than he is credited for in the movie. As also the producer of this movie he obviously claimed to become the top-billing actor of the movie as well. In fact the main part of the movie is being played by Val Kilmer, who plays his character in a way like we're used of him; a humble way and he doesn't try too hard to impress in his role, which also leaves room for the other actors to shine and of course allows the story to be told best. Surprising to see that the movie also had actors in it, that would later turn into big well known names such as Bernard Hill and Tom Wilkinson, in some good roles. Also Om Puri gives a nice performance.

A perfectly fun and simple adventurous action movie. This is high quality entertainment.

8/10

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(Some Spoilers) True story of the Tasvo Man-eaters who terrorized the workers working on the Kenya Ungandan Railway back in 1898 killing and devouring almost 140 of them in nine, March-December 1898, months. It's during that reign of terror the Tasvo Lions, weighing some 500 pounds each, lived or dined almost exclusively on human flesh.

The film starts with Irish engineer Col. John Patterson, Val Kilmar, sent to Kenya by his British overseer, or boss, the pompous and all full of himself the future Sir, hoping that he'll be knighted by the Queen, Robert Beaumont, Tom Wilkerson. As soon as Col.Patterson arrives on the Dark Continent he's faced with a revolt by those workers that he's in charged of with them afraid to go out and build a bridge over the Tasvo River.

These two man-eating lions have been snatching and devouring workers at will and it thought that they, the killer cats, aren't even lions but evil and murderous spirits preventing the bridge, that's being erected on sacred native ground, from being built. The killings go on unabated and it's when one of the local native leaders Mahina, Danny Cele, is dragged out of his tent and eaten by the lions the rail workers just refused to go back out and lay tracks, to build the bridge, over the Tasvo River.

Being like phantoms more then lions the killer cats are immune to anything that Col. Patterson and his native guide Samuel, John Kani, can come up with in both trapping and killing the two giant felines. It's then out of sheer desperation that the "I've never been wrong in all my life" Robert Beaumont, it must have taken a lot out of his giant ego, hires big game hunter Charles Remington, Michael Douglas, to do the job, kill the Tasvo Man-eaters, that nobody including Col. Patterson can seem to do. ***SPOILER*** Remington who after failing to put down the killer cats with both Col. Patterson and Samuels' help goes out on his own, without Col. Patterson's knowledge, only to end up becoming the Tasvo Man-eaters next victim and meal.

Far better then many of it's critics and detractors say it is "Ghost and the Darkness" does have it's share of shocks and thrills despite not having the benefit, like similar movies like "Jaws", of having any real and state of the art special effects. There's only one scene where there's a mechanical or fake lion, like the shark in "Jaws", in the movie and that was about the most ineffective scene in which the killer cats attacked in the entire film. The lions are seen mostly in close up when they do most of their damage, attacking and killing the rail workers. But the few scenes where the lions do fully expose themselves, like the dream-like attack on Col. Patterson's wife and son, are truly heart-stopping and as good as anything you'd see a like-wise animal attack film.

P.S The notorious Tasvo Lions have been said to have become man-eaters because of an epidemic that killed off most of their food, gazelles zebra and wildebeests, in the area or their hunting grounds. This forced them to go for humans as prey since human beings were the only source of food, with all their normal prey dying out, left open to them. A far more interesting clue, in later checking out their skeletal remains, to the man-eating Tasvo Lions turning to prey on humans has to do with them having abscesses and infections in their teeth and gums. This had the lions suffer extreme and excruciation pain when they had to bite into the extremely thick and tough hides of their normal prey in order to kill and eat them. They turned to hunt kill and eat human beings only because their skin or hides weren't as tough and thus easier to penetrate and not cause the Tasvo Lions any terrible pains in doing so.

"The Ghost & the Darkness" is a very good adventure flick set in Africa in the late 19th century, and is based on a true incident. Kilmer plays an engineer sent to build a railroad bridge over the Tsavo river. Work is halted by attacks from two man-eating lions which terrorize the workers. Seems these lions are exhibiting behavior not seen in lions before, i.e. they appear to be hunting for sport ('the Ghost' and 'the Darkness' are the names given to the 2 lions by the native workers). Douglas plays a famous renegade American hunter, a tragically scarred Civil War veteran, hired by the railroad to kill the lions.

Good adventure, well-paced, with stunning photography of the African countryside. The movie has an "R" rating which I can't figure out; perhaps because of the bloodiness of the lion dinner scenes (and lunch, and breakfast, and between-meal snacks....). I have seen many PG13's which have more blood & guts than this.

I give it a straight A; my 10-year old son gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up also).

I just returned from the Field Museum in Chicago where they have the two lions who are the stars of this film. They are stuffed and not very threatening in their their traditional natural history diorama. The gift shop sells plush toys of these creatures. So let me get this straight. These things ate an alarming number of unfortunate people, but have become cuddly toys that kids might sleep with at night. I guess time heals all.

Anyway, back to the movie. I loved the visual being of this film. The shots of Africa are remarkable. An incredible sense of threat is wonderfully created. The camera is used masterfully. The acting is quite good and the jump factor is quite high (although it is overdone a bit). Since this is based on but not really true to the actual events, the people can be forgiven for being so damned stupid. I described this to a friend as "Jaws" with lions. These particular felines seem to have the dangerous movie animal syndrome. The are sentient, they are vengeful, they have motivations beyond their basic animal needs, and they are nearly supernatural. Despite the danger realized by the principal characters, these lions are able to wreak their havoc anyway. While the scene is impressive, the fact that they get into a hospital while people are at red alert is hard to swallow. Either that, or they never really take seriously what these creatures have become. I enjoyed it mostly. Remember, lions know that people are stupid. If that's the case, how about a meal. If you don't take this too seriously, enjoy the ride. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Thrilling as well as handsome adventure story set in 1896 , dealing with of two man-eating lions , hunting together for sport rather than food , as they killed 130 people and nearly derailed the building of the East African Railway . These Lions of Tsavo (prophetically means place of slaughter) were maneless, perhaps due to environmental variables, although maneless lions are not unique to Tsavo. Their taste for man may have been due to an outbreak of Rinderpest at the time, which may have depleted their normal prey. Engineer John Patterson (Val Kilmer) is sent by his chief (Tom Wilkinson) to build a bridge over the Tsavo river . Then the workers become convinced the lions , nicknamed ¨The Ghost¨ and ¨the Darkness¨ are actually demons carrying out a cruel carnage . John sets in pursuit the beasts but he has little luck killing the lions , though he gets to survive on a mixture of cunning and bravura . As the beasts contemptuously evade all traps set for them . After losing dozens of workers to the lions, the company brought in Remington, an American , to hunt them, but even his reputation for being the best could not prevent yet more massacre . There is eventually formed a team between the brave engineer and a famous white hunter (Michael Douglas ,despite having top billing, he doesn't appear on screen until 45 minutes into the movie) but the legendary lions survive to kill and kill again ; as they still seem to have advantage until a frenziedly breathtaking last reel .

This nail-biting film packs thrills , chills , grisly events , slurping blood , quick cut edition is used to depict the lions' attacks and terror elements . Based on a true story well screen-written by the notorious writer William Goldman , he took the actual experiences by real Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson published a book about his adventures , titled "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" ; however , Michael Douglas' character Remington as a 'great white hunter' is fictionalized , while Val Kilmer's character John Patterson killed both lions . Lt. Col. Patterson owned the skins and skulls of the two Tsavo man-eaters. After the lions were killed, their skins were used as rugs by Patterson. They were later sold In 1924, Patterson sold them to the Field Museum in Chicago for $5,000 . Because they were originally used as rugs with resulting deterioration of the hides, the lions are much smaller than they originally were . There is only one scene involving an animatronic lion , all the other shots were used using two real life lions named Bongo and Caeser ; the same lions also appeared in the film George of the jungle (1997).

Very good acting from main cast , and nice support casting . As Val Kilmer is magnificent as an engineer in charge of building a bridge and turned into a relentless hunter . Michael Douglas is top-notch as a two-fisted as well as legendary game hunter with his complex mixture of bravado , toughness and calm . Impressive production design and art design from Stuart Wurtzel and Giles Masters , including wonderful outdoors and a lot of extras . The location where the bridge was built is now called Man-Eater's Junction, after the two lions. It is in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, about 200 miles southeast of Nairobi . Support actors are frankly engaging such as Tom Wilkinson as Robert Beaumont , John Kani as Samuel , Bernard Hill as Dr. David Hawthorne , Brian McCardie as Angus Starling , Om Puri as Abdullah and Emily Mortimer as wife . Rousing as well as exciting musical score by maestro Jerry Goldsmith . The motion picture was compellingly filmed by Director Stephen Hopkins (Lost in space , Predator 2 , Under suspicion , Blown away) , he wanted his longtime collaborator Peter Levy to be the film's cinematographer, but he was overruled by the studio, who wanted to hire Vilmos Zsigmond who carries out a splendid and colorful cinematography . Rating : Above average . Well worth watching .

It is 1898 and charming, cretinous Captain of Industry Beaumont has hired Col. John Patterson,eminent engineer/bridge builder to complete a bridge spanning the river by Tsavo, Africa.

Arriving in the continent he has dreamed of forever, Patterson meets his project. There are problems with it: Competing French and German rivals, Ethnic hatred among the crews and, on Patterson's first day there, a worker is attacked by a lion. He goes to "sort it out" by shooting the beast with one shot; gaining the admiration of his crews, lifting spirits, adding motivation to complete the bridge, and unleashing a nightmare

Only weeks after the shooting the camp is suddenly besieged by a pair of giant man-eating lions. Their first "kill" is Mahina (Henry Cele), considered the strongest man in the camp. This serves to unnerve every man on the project, including Indian rabble-rouser Abdullah, who doesn't like Patterson from the start. Nerves jangle and fray as the lions repeatedly and relentlessly attack and attack and attack! They strike under the cover of night AND during the heat of day; They kill not for hunger, not for sport, but simply because they like it. Men are dragged from their beds and mauled to death in the tall grasses; the hospital becomes a blood-bathe; Laborers aren't safe as the beasts leap out and snatch them from their work. Everything is falling apart and Patterson is at his wit's end as Beaumont arrives to make matters worse. And still the lions attack and attack and attack.

Enter Big Game Hunter Charles Remington who is as determined to destroy the lions as the lions seem determined to eat every man in camp.

This is an under-appreciated, well made, well scripted nail biting adventure. It boasts solid artists on both sides of the lens: William Goldman penned the script, Gail Anne Hurd and H. Kitman Ho are two of the producers who know how to spend the budget wisely, the great Vilmos Zigmond is responsible for the mesmerizing African cinematography. Stephen Hopkins directs with great vision and skill and the actors are uniformly solid and believable in their roles. Val Kilmer plays Patterson with an understated, simple and elegant performance; Tom Wilkerson is the charming snake of a boss Beaumont, Brian McCardie gains the viewers sympathy as a youthful, innocent, and doomed Angus Starling, John Jani is the stalwart Project Manager Samuel, Bernard Hill the irritable/irritating Dr. Hawthorne, Om Puri is the creepy, sarcastic Abdullah ("You are white. You can do anything.") and Michael Douglas, also an Executive Producer – he got the money – plays hunter Charles Remington, removing the sweet edges of his Romancing the Stone role to create our renown hunter.

Hopkins not only knows how to build tension, suspense, and terror, but when to let us relax and how to fill that time. The quiet moments are never dull. They let us empathize with these men, their characters get to develop and we bond with them and their nightmare. Zigmond (Close Encounter of the Third Kind) uses deep oranges and blacks for the African locale, except during a daylight lion hunt and cave exploration when he switches to bright sunlight, vibrant greens and sharp browns as if to show us that even a travelogue holds a nightmare. It is near Hitchcockian.

Rolling underneath the film like summer thunder (or the breathy growl and snarling of our killer lions) is Jerry Goldsmith's pounding, tribal driven score, which accents the mood and gives further dimension to the narrative. Listen closely, you can hear him using tonal motifs he developed for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

As the hysteria builds and the men frenzy, many explanations are offered for the appearance of these animals: Are they the spirits of medicine men come to exact revenge; Or demons sent by the devil to keep Africa unsoiled; Or have they come to claim John Patterson? Is it to helplessly watch as they strip away the layers of security around him until he is exposed and defenseless against their teeth and claws? It is no coincidence that Kilmer is photographed at times slack- faced and full on and LOOKS like a lion himself.

Once this film starts, I can guarantee you that you won't be able to take a snack break, bathroom break, or even think about dozing off. It is that good. And remember this: You can see the preserved bodies of these two giant man-eaters at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois because this incredible story is TRUE.

The Ghost and the Darkness is an excellent film. It has the ingredients of a landmark movie. The story is based on fact. There was a bridge being built in Tsavo in 1898. There were two man-eating lions there who killed 130 people for no reason. And I believe there was something more behind the intentions of these lions. Evil can and does exist anywhere. Undoubtedly in humans, and, probably more than we'll ever know, in animals. The Ghost and the Darkness is a reminder how vulnerable we are to nature's fury, and that we should never under-estimate the potential of any animal.

In closing, I'll say that this movie is perfectly directed, superbly scored, and beautifully filmed, and to the adventurous and open-minded viewer, a movie with lasting satisfying and chilling effects.

Stephen Hopkins directed this adventure film that stars Val Kilmer as Col. John Henry Patterson, who, in 1898 Africa, is in charge of building a bridge, but work is halted because two lions have been killing workers, and the locals believe the lions to be avenging tribal spirits. To show them that they are ordinary lions, his government hires noted hunter Remington(played by Michael Douglas) to join Patterson to kill them, but even he admits to having never seen anything like these lions before... Exciting and tense film is nicely acted and directed, with a most interesting story that was based on fact, incredibly enough!

"The Ghost and the Darkness" is a marvellous movie, in the literal sense: the lions come out of the long grass in the daylight or the groundfog in the darkness like the devils they are thought to be. No true motives are ascribed to them, as how could they be?, and that actually serves to make them more demonically terrifying. But whether they are the devils come to prevent Val Kilmer's Patterson from building his bridge, or merely (!) animals hunting for the pleasure of it, they provide more suspense, more terror, and more death than most high-tech cgi aliens. Michael Douglas's Remington, dispossessed of home and family in the American civil war, is an interesting character, but it's Kilmer's British bridge-builder in a time where engineers had to know how to shoot tigers and manage Hindu-Muslim conflicts fully as much as how to put up their structures, who is the focus of the film, and rightly so. Kilmer's performance is quiet, almost understated, but one of the best I've seen him give; he's fully convincing, especially as he fights the belief that the lions are, in fact, out to get him personally. "They are just lions," he says halfway through the movie, and you can hear how much he wants to believe it. John Kani also gives a good performance, contained mostly in small moments that are so true they almost hurt. The cinematography is beautiful, especially the of the lion attacks and their passages through the grass. Again, no cgi effects could convey so much beauty and lurking menace. This movie is beautiful, intense, and dramatic; I highly recommend it.

When I was in high school, my English teacher made us document all the differences we could spot between the Ronald Coleman movie version of "A Tale of Two Cities" and Dicken's novel. It's an exercise I find myself doing every time a movie comes out - especially when the movie is supposedly based on fact.

When I saw "The Ghost and the Darkness," I had already read "the Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo" and already seen the lions in the Field Museum. There really were two lions that killed well over 40 workers during the construction of a railroad in Africa in Tsavo, Kenya in the late 1800s. National Geographic also did an article about the aggressive Tsavo lions in 2002. I found the real story fascinating, and was really looking forward to the movie.

I understand that the normally maneless lions found in Tsavo don't look quite right for us ignorant viewers (could have just explained it with a one liner from a native, but oh well), so they used lions with manes.

I also realize that we as an audience today are too politically correct to cope with the way the white man treated natives back then, so the movie has been historically sanitized, with a few remarks sprinkled throughout on religious reformation from the doctor. I suppose we must continue to pretend certain behaviors in history didn't happen.

Yet another key change: I'm not clear why we needed another mighty hunter in the story. Patterson had the help of a district manager from time to time, but not another great white hunter. In Africa in that period, getting messages and arranging encounters wasn't easy - strangers of European race were apt to consider each other friends just because they were the same color upon encounter in that era - something the movie fails to get across - it's unlikely that another hunter could be reached easily. And certainly great star/hunter Val could carry a movie on his own.

Fortunately the character Michael Douglas plays does not detract from the movie, and there is that extra emphasis on the Ghost/Darkness nomenclature from the (again, additional characters) Masai. Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer did play off each other well, although neither seemed able to fully adopt Southern/Irish (? did we need those?) accents respectively.

I do think the hunting scenes in the movie captured well the constant effort to see something, staring into the darkness at nothing, that hunting at night can be like. Not to mention the cold sweat, stark fear, blinding pain, and sudden calm and desperation that a near death experience is.

Which is why, in spite of the factual inconsistencies, I gave the movie the rating I did. Worth the watch, if only for that. If you really want to know about the Lions of Tsavo, read the story by Patterson - it's pamphlet #7, published in 1925 from the Field Museum in Chicago.

Pretty good acting and cinematography, but this was virtually a remake of Jaws (set in Africa rather than the ocean). There was even a moment when a lion was walking in the bush to strains of very Jaws-esque music. The story was typically Hollywood, overly sappy in some points and extremely predictable throughout.

I always found this to be an outstanding based-on a true story adventure film which holds your interest throughout. It features some great suspense and the story is fascinating. It's always been ranked among my top 50 movies. A good surround system doesn't hurt here, either.

Stan Winston, one of the best special-effects men in the business, lent his talents to this film while Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas are more than adequate in the starring roles and the African with the freckles (sorry, I don't have his name) is really a likeble fellow.

Except for the first one, the lion attack scenes are not gruesome and the filmmakers did a nice job a having just the right amount of action and lulls. Neither is overdone. This film has never been given much due but I've never shown it to anyone who didn't thoroughly enjoy it.

This movie scared me so much I stopped hunting lions. It's just not fun anymore.

True story, two lions killed a hundred railroad workers in east Africa in 1898. Col. Pattersson is sent from England to supervise the building of a bridge in Uganda across the Tsavo river. He ends up a bit over his head when the lions show up. He teams up with famed hunter Charles Remmington to bring down the cats from hell.

It wasn't until I heard what other people had to say that I realized that The Ghost in the Darkness is half way to a Jaws rip-off. But of course this is a real story. I've even seen the hides of the two lions preserved in Chicago's natural history museum. They were actually maneless, but for obvious reasons this film gives its killer fuzzballs the hunk hair which makes Lions stand out from any other cat.

I do know that cats are generally more aggressive than dogs towards people (because of their rogue personalities), but these lions are unnaturally ferocious. They are more monster than animal, which is the intended approach of course. Sometimes though it gets a little unbelievable. One scene in particular, involves the cats ambushing a dorm of about two dozen, all are killed. Regardless of their size or ferocity, are we supposed to believe that two lions can kill that many people in thirty seconds flat without one escaping. It's a tent for god sakes.

There are a few other problems with The Ghost and the Darkness. Tom Wilkinson's performance is annoying. this is too lame a role for such a good actor. I didn't think Michael Douglas was that great either. He plays the role with too much Indiana Jones in him. A there are also a couple of scenes which are just playing goofy.

In general though, The Ghost and the Darkness actually amounts to an entertaining monster movie. I'll give the most credit to the animal trainers, because these lions give great performances. I wouldn't call it a scary movie but it certainly has its grizzly parts which might shake you up some. The Ghost and the Darkness bridges the gap between Thriller, horror, and adventure, and I'm pretty sure it'll give you what you want (assuming this is your kind of movie)

Don't expect an immersive, well-directed action story. This is a simple, sloppy, dime-a dozen film with cardboard characters and cheap special effects. Halfway through things get a bit more interesting when Michael Douglas appears. Although type-casted, he at least brings some acting skills and personality into the whole endeavour. Political incorrectness is circumvented by opposing the two western heroes with noble savage allegory and immoral lion hunting with depicting the behavior of the lions as atypical, thus immoral themselves. And Val Kilmer? Well, he's there just for his pretty looks I suppose...

A story of Col. Patterson building a bridge over the river Tsavo in Africa, and fighting the couple of killer lions and builders scared to death. Firstly it's the views. Africa's all around with yellow, sun burnt, high grown grass moving in the wind (you can smell the scent almost) and the workers who can cast a threat to Patterson if he fails their expectations of killing the lions. Secondly Val Kilmer's performance. He's not acting, he's just there fighting the obstacles. Thirdly Mike Douglas's influential way of telling things. He's more convincing than in 'Basic Instinct' and sorry Oliver, 'The Wall Street'. His macho appearance doesn't interfere with the main plot but comes to be part of it. Last not least it's Jerry Goldsmith's music. I don't know how he did it but he made it perfect. You just have to sense it to feel it. One of my favourites.

"The Ghost and the Darkness" is based on an episode from the jungles of 1896 East Africa. Various European countries are engaged in the process of establishing colonies in the wealthy lands of East Africa, and chief among those is Great Britain.

Val Kilmer has been given a task--to build a bridge over a river in one of the British colonial ventures in East Africa. When he arrives at the site, he learns that the task has been brought to a total halt by the presence of two man-eating lions the natives refer to as The Ghost and The Darkness. These lions hunt as a team, and seem to have no fear of any outside force. What's more, efforts to hunt them down have all ended in failure. Kilmer enrolls the aid of an ardent big-game hunter, Remington, played by Michael Douglas. Together, the two men set out to end the killing spree and thus allow the bridge to be built.

The story is marked with violence, may be a bit squeamish for some, but the scenery and photography, coupled with a good story, makes it all worth while. There is also a very unusual musical score, which adds to the background of the entire film. On my own scale, a 9 out of 10

Stephen Hopkins 'The Ghost and the Darkness' is a Fairly Entertaining Flick, that manages some well-done moments in the first-hour. However, a not-so-convincing second-hour, pulls down it's potential, in totality.

Set in 1898, 'The Ghost and the Darkness' is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 130 people over a nine month period, while a bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter tried to kill them.

Cinematically, this adventure flick begins really well and offers an engaging first hour. But, the second-hour, is not really convincing. Even the climax for that matter, isn't razor-sharp. William Goldman's Screenplay is fair. Stephen Hopkins Direction is good. Cinematography is striking. Editing is passable. Sound Editing, is indeed impressive.

Performance-Wise: Val Kilmer does well. Michael Douglas is adequate. Om Puri & Tom Wilkinson lend good support. Brian McCardie & Emily Mortimer appear in brief roles.

On the whole, A One-Time Watch.

Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

5 word summary

Man-eating Lions Terrorize African village

The Ghost and the Darkness is very interesting movie. It's based on a true story, but really who ever knows how much of that story is true. The story of 2 lions attacking the workers of a rail road and the hunt for those lions by Patterson are both known true and not necessarily that exciting. However, how clever and seemingly hell bent on killing Patterson and the other men the lions are almost brings this movie into a Horror genre than just the adventure/thriller.

Director Stephen Hopkins did a very good job at building tension and really making this a heart pounding thriller. The problem however with the film, and what knocked down the rating for me, was the acting. Val Kilmer, who can be good, and Michael Douglas, who can be amazing, both had mediocre performances at best. Kilmer didn't seem to care about the film or his character. Douglas almost over acted but it still was poor.

With the acting aside it was a very enjoyable film. A real thrill ride. Its one of the best films I've seen about killer animals, besides Jaws of course. The fact that it's "based on a true story" brings a sense of terror not usually accompanied with similar films.

Like I said its no Jaws, but it's better than Anaconda

8/10

"The Ghost and The Darkness" tells the real story of Lt. Col. John Paterson (played by Val Kilmer) and his fight to build a railway bridge across a river in Africa in 1896 during the Imperialism but it's not only that. Besides the difficult of building this great project he must protect his employees and himself of two dangerous lions who are believed to have killed more than 100 men. The local residents call them as 'The Ghost' and 'The Darkness' because of their great abilities to appear and disappear fast into the woods after killing many of the bridge workers.

Patterson is not alone on the hunt of these two lions; he is helped by a notorious American hunter (Michael Douglas) with notable skills on hunting. Both men are trapped in a risky mission and they must run fast because the time is running out and the bridge must be made because England wants to go ahead in the conquest of more African territories surpassing Germany and other European countries. And that bridge must be done no matter what it takes.

It is said that this film is based on true events but I still find very difficult to believe in many of the things portrayed here (such as many of the lions attacks or Kilmer facing the lion without shooting and surviving after that). Douglas's character is fictional (read trivia section), created for dramatical purposes and that was great (although many people complain that he was the worst thing in the movie). He really made the movie more watchable than it is, added energy to a story that kept being boring and very slow at times. Considering that "The Ghost and The Darkness" was written by the great William Goldman I expected a more thrilling movie, with more character and story profundity. I mean, it's just two guys hunting two killing lions in the desert and....? Too much gratuitous and not so fantastic but enjoyable and watchable.

The locations were amazing; the main theme score composed by Jerry Goldsmith was brilliant (a little bit wasted, could be used more here or in another film); some of the action scenes were great with the required amount of tension needed but other ones didn't worked at all (many of the attack scenes were unconvincible although real animals were used); the cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond was good and bad (the day light scenes were very good, he captured great things, but the night scenes was just like the title, too much darkness). Acting is fine for a movie of this caliber, Kilmer was okay, Douglas was very interesting, and the movie also features good performances of Tom Wilkinson, Bernard Hill, John Kani (the leader of the tribe), Om Puri, Emily Mortimer and Brian McCardie.

It is very entertaining, it doesn't shock the viewer, it doesn't scare the viewer, and it doesn't have a meaning towards anything. The qualities and defects depends of the viewer. 7/10

Dear oh dear , Hollywood decides to make a movie where everything is moving along nicely . Stephen Hopkins direction is good though hardly in the same class as David Lean , William Goldman has written a fairly good script though noit his best even if it does contain the line " God invented alcohol so the Irish wouldn`t rule the world " , we see a couple of British character actors like Tom Wilkinson and Bernard Hill lending weight to the proceedings and the audience are even shocked by Val Kilmar doing a passable Irish accent

But then Hollywood decides this isn`t good enough for an international ( Read American ) audience and insert a completely made up character called Charles Remmington to save the natives from man eating lions . What`s worse Remmington is played by Michael Douglas who has more or less stepped out of the set from ROMANCING THE STONE where he played an American adventurer , and it`s impossible to believe Remmington is anything less than an OTT American adventurer inserted to appeal an American audience who couldn`t relate to non American characters . Oh by the way this is actually based on a true story which is what makes this tinkering of history so offensive . It`s like watching a remake of ZULU where the 7th calvary turn up to rescue the red coats

I have heard some people say that this movie is a remake of Jaws. The only way this movie even comes close to Jaws is that it is an animal that is killing people. Other than that this movie is in no relation to Jaws. The story it's self is amazing, and true! I read the book written by James Patterson on his adventures in Africa. And except for Remington killing the first lion, and the lions having manes, the movie is very close to what really happened. I find this movie one of the most exciting and memorable movies I have ever seen. I first watched when I was about 10 years old, and I never forgot a second of it. In conclusion, I see this movie as Val Kilmer's best work and one of the best thriller movies ever. It is my favorite movie.

`The Ghost and the Darkness' is a movie overflowing with promise . . . but, ultimately, it fails to even remotely deliver on that promise. Set in the late nineteenth century, it's the story Colonel John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) man hired to supervise the building of a bridge in British-colonial Africa. Upon arriving in Africa, Patterson learns that the bridge must be built within five months – his supervisor (and the man formerly in charge of building the bridge), Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson), has set this unreasonable deadline just so Patterson will fail. Undaunted by this challenge, Patterson pushes on, and actually enjoys a slight amount of success, until some native workers are mauled to death by a lion. The native workers believe that the lion is a spirit sent to punish the British, but Patterson believe that the lion is just an old male lion that has been kicked out of its pride, left to die of old age. To shut the natives, up, Patterson hires one of the greatest game hunters living in Africa, Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), to kill the beast. Remington hunts down the lion, but finds that he's not after one decrepit old lion, but two young, vicious male lions that hunt as a team. A game of hunter versus hunted ensues between Remington, Patterson, and the killer lions, and the twists and turns that ensue are often quite entertaining.

Unfortunately, the movie is usually only interesting when the lions are present. The first third of the movie, setting up the conflict between man and beast, drags along at a painfully slow rate. Val Kilmer is woefully miscast as Patterson, coming across as spoiled and ineffective instead of as a man desperately struggling against the odds. Michael Douglas' performance as Remington, while entertaining, was cartoonish and out of place with the rest of the film. The character of Remington would've benefited greatly from either being toned down or from a reduction in screen time.

Ultimately, the lions are the true stars of the film. The scenes where they attack, or where Remington and Patterson are forced to prepare for an attack, are gritty and suspenseful. The animatronic lions created by Stan Winston are unbelievably good – watching their eyes focus on their prey in the African twilight is chilling, to say the least. Also, once the lions had been established as a real threat, they could be used to create menace in a scene without even being there. But the lions are supposed to be the villains, not the whole movie, and as such `The Ghost and the Darkness' fails miserably.

There's a few scenes that are fantastic, but for the most part, this film's a boring mess. If you're going to watch it, get the DVD, so you can skip ahead to the good scenes and save yourself from a good hour of terminal boredom. C-