​The Ghost and the Darkness

A text review.

​I tripped over this again. I remember seeing it when it was current. I was not that impressed ​having read the book, etc. Hollywood seldoms gets a story like this right. Micheal Douglas interjected himself into the story and I find him annoying in some movies like this one. The film bombed and the critics hated it. Since then it has acquired a bit of cult status. People that grew up with it as kids seem especially taken with it. The monsters under the bed phase hits all kids at some point.

A lot of commenters mention the score as outstanding. The reviewer in the link, who reviews with a historical accuracy theme, does so. He is a big fan of the movie as he says in the second link.

With CGI, and other film innovations, I am waiting for someone to do justice to Jim Corbett. Avatar guy are you listening. You only have 5 billion from the first two to play with. However as the script writer said creature features with real animals as villains is not as marketable as it used to be. We may fear the lions in the film but lions in life have way more to fear from us. The chances of them disappearing in the wild is already close.

Man-eaters still exist but we seldom hear about it. The need to up their game and eat a few white celebrities. LOL

There is a fair bit on line about the movie. Apparently, a release with upgraded video quality is out soon but I didn’t look into that much. It may be worth a look or doing some more reading on it. The Man-eaters of Tsavo book by John Henry Patterson​ is fairly easy to find and is an ok read but doesn’t compare to Corbett’s books or Vaillant​.  Patterson​ was out of his league ​dealing with the lions and his lack of natural knowledge shows through although it can be argued that his impressions were the more relatable non expert view of the average reader. All of these books, I think, were included in Steve’s’ book on books, A Sportsman’s Library​.​
Updated Thurs Feb 16, 2023
Winner, Best Single Image in a Portfolio, Green Planet, Blue Planet. Okavango Delta, Botswana: A large male lion peers through the remains of a buffalo killed the day before.

2 comments

  1. Completely agree. Saw the movie and thought it was one of the worst adaptations I’ve even seen. Rather send the watching time rereading either Corbett or Patterson.

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