By MARK GRIFFIN
Staff Writer
 

"The Edge" begins with a classic movie premise - Eccentric billionaire Charles Morse (Hopkins), his super model wife (Elle MacPherson) and a smarmy high fashion photographer (Baldwin--who's intent on developing more than just magazine covers with the Mrs.)--congregate in a remote region of the Alaskan wilderness for a splashy, stage managed photo shoot.

In an attempt to squire some local color for his snaps, Baldwin's character suggests chartering a plane and scouring the area in search of a certified native. Hopkins agrees to go along - for what turns out to be the ride of his life.

A freak accident strands our urban dwellers precisely in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly they're fighting to stay alive while being forced to confront the more primitive, button down aspects of themselves. Sans Armani, the billionaire and the big shot test their mettle in a world where the hostile corporate take over of the week has been transformed into a ferocious, man eating, Kodiak bear.

Solid performances from Anthony and Alec aside, the real star here is Mamet's carefully constructed, air tight screenplay which is all breathless action-adventure on the surface. The cumulative effect is not unlike the sense of sweat drenched relief one feels after having survived Space Mountain.

Mamet is a master at pitting characters against one another who represent opposite points of view - different answers to the same question. In "Oleanna," male professor and female student speak, respectively, for flawed humanity and unyielding political correctness.

In "The Edge", Mamet's topic is survival. Hopkins is rich not only with capital gains but with self taught knowledge. Up against the great outdoors, the minutia of Morse's encyclopedic intelligence should be so much useless baggage but Mamet continually reminds us that knowledge is power. Whatever you learn in life is yours.

Adulterous, conniving Baldwin, on the other hand, is prepared to take whatever he wants - photographs, other mens' wives, human life. Such a street smart opportunist would appear to be well equipped to survive a few days in the woods but then again, he's only siezed from others and has never found anything for himself.

Richly layered and ripe with metaphor, "The Edge" is a real find. A thinking man's theme park ride with David Mamet's well chosen words and indelible images resurfacing in your mind long after you've left the parking lot.