The Edge Blu-ray delivers great video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
A plane crash in the freezing Alaskan wilderness pits intellectual billionaire Charles Morse against self satisfied
fashion photographer Robert Green in a brutal struggle for survival. Each soon discovers that the greatest
danger
resides not in nature, but from human fear, treachery, and quite possible, murder.
For more about The Edge and the The Edge Blu-ray release, see The Edge Blu-ray Review published by Casey Broadwater on May 11, 2010 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.5 out of 5.
By now, most movie trivia buffs are familiar with the apocryphal Alec Baldwin "beard" incident as
recounted by producer Art Linsom in his book What Just Happened? As the story goes,
Baldwin showed up to the set of the David Mamet-scripted The Edge with a massive Grizzly
Adams beard, feeling that his character—a self-possessed fashion photographer—would indeed sport
a facial hair piece of Walt Whitmanesque proportions. Linson, on behalf of the studio—which was
already wary about casting Baldwin in the first place—had to ask the future 30 Rock star to
shave. This did not go well. Baldwin, known for his tantrums, erupted with some choice words for
those present, calling them, among other things—and I'm paraphrasing here—maternal
copulaters. Besides all of the obvious reasons, the incident is funny (and ironic) because having
an outwardly macho man explode because he feels inwardly insecure about himself seems like
something that could very easily happen in a Mamet script.
Baby, it's cold outside.
Mamet, known for his uber-masculine stories and clipped, Harold Pinter-ish dialogue, has created
in The Edge a Hemingway-meets-Jack London survival story that's just as much about
man versus man as it is about man versus the wild. The two men in question are billionaire
Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) and urbanite fashion photographer Bob Green (Alec Baldwin).
Green is up in the wilds of Alaska to do a shoot with Charles' supermodel wife (real supermodel Elle
McPherson) and Charles is being dragged along because it's his birthday. You can probably see
where this is going. There's an unspoken rivalry between the two men. Charles has a hunch that
his wife is being shot by the photographer in more ways than one, if you catch my drift, and Bob is
intimidated by the billionaire's wealth, power, and intellectual cunning. The worst thing for these
two men would be to get stranded in the wilderness, fighting together for survival, but mentally
mistrusting one another every step of the way. And that's exactly what happens. While flying to a
remote cabin, their seaplane collides with a flock of geese and crashes into the lake below. The
only survivors are Charles, Bob, and Bob's assistant, Stephen, played by Lost's Harold
Perrineau. Three's a crowd, though, and Stephen is basically the equivalent here of a "red shirt"
from Star Trek—he exists in the story solely to get mauled by the monster, in this case,
an enormous Kodiak brown bear. And, no spoiler alert required—really, you can see this coming
from the get go—it's a grisly death indeed.
The film functions on two levels. Taken most directly, it's a gripping adventure yarn, a tale of
survival where two men are tested by nature and emerge surprisingly capable. Well, one of them
does anyway. Charles has an encyclopedic knowledge of the great outdoors, and though his
experience is book-learned and "mostly theoretical," he has little trouble applying it to real life,
creating compasses from paper clips, teaching Bob how to make fire from ice, and building squirrel
traps. At every turn, the two are hounded by the hulking, snarling brown bear, which seems to be
just as much of a symbol for the unsympathetic cruelty of the universe as it is an actual flesh and
blood being. Played by screen veteran Bart the Bear—who appeared in eleven films before
succumbing to cancer at age 23—the Kodiak is something of a distraction from Charles and Bob's
largely unspoken jealousies. All his life, Charles has wanted to do something "unequivocal,"
something unmistakably real and daring, and he becomes almost maniacally obsessed with felling
the mighty beast. Bob just wants to get out of the woods with all his limbs intact. As long as the
bear lives, the men need one another to survive. Once the brute is out of the picture, though, the
film becomes a full-on psychological thriller, with Charles keeping his wits about him while Bob
plays a dangerous long con. Ultimately, Charles' battle with the bear is the more thrilling conflict,
as the man versus man scheming isn't developed enough to make much of an impact during the
final act.
Still, David Mamet and director Lee Tamahori (Mulholland Falls, Die Another Day)
do smartly subvert many of the clichés and expectations of the survival genre, making The
Edge a rather intelligent action film (As opposed to a high-minded, to-be-taken-seriously
drama with action elements). The use of intentionally over-obvious foreshadowing is darkly clever
—sometimes things pan out as you'd expect, other times they don't—and there's an undercurrent
of bleak humor that runs throughout the film. It all works because of the acting. Baldwin would be
easily replaceable here—apparently Bill Pullman was in the running at one point, a much better
choice, in my opinion—but he gives the kind of performance he's good at, playing a wise-guy with
issues. The real reason to watch is Anthony Hopkins, who plays Charles like a man in a staring
contest; that is, he's straight faced, but there's a hint of a grin to his performance, as if he knows
this is all in good fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously. And it shouldn't. The Edge
might best be described as dad-friendly Saturday afternoon entertainment, the kind of man's man
film that's smarter than your average beat 'em up/blow 'em up extravaganza but still packs plenty
of visceral masculine thrills. Basically, it's Deliverance, but without the gap-toothed, rape-
happy rednecks.
The Edge makes its Blu-ray debut with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's surprisingly
strong. For whatever reason, I really hadn't expected the film to look this good in high definition. The
2.35:1 framed image is generally sharp, nicely toned, and beautifully defined, with a sense of depth
and presence that's very impressive at times. Take, for instance, the scene around the campfire in the
rain, right before the bear attack. The combination of clarity, spot-on black levels, and effective
lighting creates a genuinely stunning picture. And for the most part, all of these traits hold up
throughout the film. There are a few scattered soft shots, but fine detail is easily visible almost all of
the time, displaying every wrinkle on Hopkins' wizened face, and giving lucidity to other textures, from
the knobby weft of a wool blazer to tree bark and bear hide. Contrast is tight, with deep, rarely
crushing blacks and bright highlights. Color is appropriately bleak most of the time, but it's also vividly
saturated when called for, as with the cherry red float-plane or the intensely green forest foliage. The
film's grain structure has been left intact, but it's thin, natural, and unobtrusive, only spiking
occasionally during some of the darker scenes. Really, I have very few complaints. Some early scenes
display a bit of telecine wobble—when the image shakes subtly—and there are a handful of
white/black specks on the print, but I didn't spot any compression related anomalies, and overcranked
edge enhancement is entirely absent. All in all, The Edge looks fantastic.
Likewise, I was quite taken with the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which may not
offer the insane sonic theatrics of more direct action films, but certainly works well for David Mamet's
man-to-man dialogue and the film's aurally diverse Alaskan setting. Voices throughout are clear of any
muffling, drop-outs, or clipping, and the conversations are perfectly balanced among the other
elements of the mix. Jerry Goldsmith's score is as huge and dynamic as the mountainous landscape,
filling the entire soundfield with rich horns, sweeping strings, and satisfying low-end presence. The
various sound effects are just as beefy and effective. Right off the bat we get the hushed whistle of
wind blowing snow through the rear channels, and the environmental ambience rarely lets up, giving
us thunder that cracks and ripples all around, rain pouring down heavily, and other outdoorsy sounds.
The crash of the seaplane is the film's sonic showpiece, as geese shatter the glass windshield and a
metal pontoon gets ripped from the fuselage. Then, when the plane dives into the lake, water gurgles
up all around us. It's a scene that sounds great with the volume turned up.
Unfortunately, there are no bonus materials on this disc besides a theatrical trailer (1080p, 2:27) and
collection of trailers for other dad-friendly 20th Century Fox films, including Broken Arrow
(1080p, 2:28), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1080p, 1:00), Flight of the
Phoenix (1080p, 2:20), and The Siege (1080p, 2:09).
If I remember correctly, The Edge was the victim of a pretty crappy non-anamorphic DVD
treatment, so it's good to see the film get the proper home video release that it deserves. No, it's not
a masterpiece of survival cinema, but it is a fun time at the movies, thanks mostly to Anthony
Hopkins and his man versus beast showdown with Bart the Bear. Audio/Video specs are impressive
here, and the only thing holding back this release is a lack of supplementary materials. Otherwise,
The Edge is well worth your time if you're looking for a smart, outdoorsy thriller, and it would
make a great Father's Day gift. Recommended.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has revealed its slate of catalog releases for April and May, which also includes one title from MGM. The most notable entries are Ron Howard's 1985 science-fiction movie Cocoon, as well as the release on individual editions ...
