DirkH’s review published on Letterboxd:
Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.77
I love the fact the the film programmer of a Dutch TV network programmed this and The Edge as a double bill. Talking about polar (bear) opposites. (The management sincerely apologizes for the poor quality of that pun).
This David Mamet penned story of survival and betrayal is unassuming, very exciting and rather clever. It puts two men together that are, for all intents and purposes, enemies and has them survive in the wilderness, fighting against a common threat in the guise of a bear.
The acting is great, with Hopkins' performance making the rest of the cast even better. The calm intelligence he radiates is fantastic and convincing, especially when contrasted with Baldwin's unpolished and rather brash character.
But perhaps the greatest atrractions in this film are the environment and the bear. Everything is shot beautifully and the bear makes for a formidable villain and is, most importantly, very very real.
This is a smart and excellently crafted adventure film that is worthy of your time.