The Ghost and the Darkness

This is a movie based on a true story (I really don't know if its true or not, I've never looked it up)  of an Irish engineer (Val Kilmer) who has been sent to Africa to build a bridge for the railway. In Tsavo, he comes across two man-eating lions. Never before had two male, man-eaters ever been seen together. The workers are nervous because the lions not only hunt at night they also attack during the day. They call the lion the Ghost and the Darkness, two evil demons of local legend.

The lions refuse to get caught in Patterson's (Kilmer) trap and his employer calls for Charles Remington (Michael Douglas) an experienced hunter. Together they hunt the lions.

After on particularly bloody night where the lions killed everyone in a hospital while ignoring the scent of fresh blood in the old hospital, all the workers make a timely exit leaving only Patterson, Remington and Samuel (John Kani) the main foreman type person. Patterson and Remington go off, following some tracks and they find the lions' lair, where there are hundreds of human bones all over the place.

This, being completely unheard off, they figure that they're doing the killings for the pleasure of it and not for the food.

Finally after a few more failed attempts, the lions are killed. The workers come back and the bridge is finished.  Yay! The British have saved Africa from the Africans....um why were we rooting for the bridge to be built again?

The one thing that really bothered me in this film was Kilmer's accent, or lack of an accent is more like it. He was supposed to be Irish and he spoke like an American throughout most of the movie. He did have an accent in some scenes, I don't know what it was, but it wasn't Irish.

Another thing that bothered me was there were a few instances where continuity slipped a bit. The only one I remember now was that Patterson killed a lion at the beginning of the movie, then seven weeks later, Samuel presented him with a necklace of the lion's claws. Does it really take seven weeks to make one of those things? It's seems like a long time.  There was another scene here and there that were the same.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this movie. It was creepy and at times scary. The acting was great, the lions looked a little tacky in one or two scenes, but the movie is ten years old, you can't expect CGI perfection 10 years ago, especially when there are movies now with bad CGI effects.

Anyway, great movie. I don't recommend watching it alone in the dark though, especially if you are easily scared.

Grade: 8/10