The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

The Worst Film Ever

Pretty Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Have heard that one of the lions ended up in one of the two leading men's family home foyer in Oregon while the second lion is in the Smithsonian Museum in D.C. One lions head was at the five foot mark while standing flat foot on all fours. Man said the movie was "spot on" save for one part he didn't like.

Wow this was a great idea for a movie but what a trainwreck. When movie" reviewers talk about a bad screenplay this "movie should be near the top of the list. Acting was almost as bad and in general I usually like Val Kilmer and love Michael Douglas. The plot and the screenplay was laughably inept. The bumbling idiots couldn't just dig a pit or something and put a bleeding cow in the bottom of it. Problem solved. Oh wait the lions were so smart cause they were the "Ghost and the Darkness". About half way through the movie, Michael Douglas appears as I guess the great white hunter. Sorry Michael you were completely unconvincing. The first scene with him, he has this mostly thick southern drawl which immediately disappears for the rest of the movie. Same with Val Kilmer. He has a trace of a poorly executed English accent in the beginning of the movie which quickly disappears. There was just one unbelievable scene after another and my sig. other and I were saying, dear Lord please let it end. The lion sneaks into the camp and drags Michael Douglass off (thankfully) near the end of the movie. Val Kilmer is in the next tent and of course he doesn't hear a peep. I could go on all night. By halfway through the movie we were rooting hard for the lions. There were a few cinematography scenes worth seeing but that it. Should change the category to a disaster flick!

You watched Jaws with the same amount of fear for water like the protagonist? Well what about a equally great Lion hunt in the African Savannah? The Ghost and the Darkness is based on a true story, which only unfaithful parts are the ones that Michael Douglas (producer and one of the heroes of the movie) changed. He also edited 45 minutes of the movie out, so that his (side-)character could get more room, which is why director Stephen Hopkins isn't that fond of the final cut.It's even more of a sign of the great quality that the movie, regardless of this trivial facts, won a deserved Oscar and a cult- following.The cinematography is really effective in bringing you into the wild, African, atmosphere and showing you both the beautiful and the dangerous sides of the African continent.The fitting soundtrack is composed by the legendary Jerry Goldsmith and really effective.The visual effects are really good for the most part, and they used mostly real lions which are very well integrated into the shots with the actors, so that it feels fairly real for the most part.The production design is incredible and the movie feels really grand scaled.Also the actors are very good, Val Kilmer is a believable protagonist you root for and Michael Douglas (even though he sabotaged the movie behind the scenes) is really great as this experienced hunter.All in all a very effective, grand scaled adventure movie, based on a heroic and (mostly) true story...

I watched the Ghost and the Darkness last night. And I have mixed feelings about it. It evokes some powerful imagery and emotions. I lived in Tanzania, Africa recently, serving in the Peace Corps. So it brought back a few powerful memories of Africa. So here it is, the good, the bad, and the ugly.First the good. The imagery and scenery of Africa (Kenya)- although shot in South Africa. The tall grass, the river, a few giraffes, trees, an African village, surrounding mountains. The cinematography is mostly good. That it is based on a true story of the building of the railroad in colonial Africa is also interesting. That there were two ferocious man eating lions that terrorized the builders, and that the engineer was able to kill them is a fascinating story. And the hides can be seen in a Chicago museum.I thought Michael Douglas's role added a lot to the movie, even if his character didn't occur in real life. He just kind of appears out of nowhere with a bunch of Maasai who are ready to hunt the lion. Douglas looks like a wild bush white man. The movie would have been a lot duller without him. The role of the Maasai hunting the lion is fascinating. I lived near Maasai in Tanzania, and this movie portrays some of their rituals which is entertaining and adds some realism.The story of the colonial period, building railroads, Africans and other nationalities, and the dangers and harshness of Africa are intriguing. The story does have an emotional pull to it. The African character adds some sense of authenticity to the movie. There are snippets of the language of Swahili which I know.Now the bad. The movie, like another reviewer said, is filled with clichés. I thought Val Kilmer's character was too neat- too confident, too self assured. His first night in Africa, after doing a drive by of giraffes earlier in the day, and he is already up in a tree shooting a lion with his first shot. The lions, while being based on a real story of two ferocious lions that truly did kill a bunch of people, are portrayed in a Jaws like fashion. I'm an environmental/conservationist. The problem with a movie like Jaws is it falsely portrays all sharks as vicious killers. This movie portrays all lions that way. I read recently that more people are killed taking selfies of themselves than are killed by sharks each year. We all know that lions and sharks are being decimated every year by rampant poaching and killing. So for someone who is knowledgeable about animal biology, the film is mostly rubbish.You won't get much insight into African culture here. There are mostly stereotypes of heroic whites, scared/submissive Africans and Asians, and the portrayal of the nice colonial master is unrealistic. The dialogue is pretty weak, the storyline isn't great, acting OK.Still entertaining to see Africa and lions but not a great movie.