Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

yvesdemaria first its really nice and good that sometimes very original stories come out of Hollywood, a movie in Africa at the end of the 19th century is not necessarily what would attract the most viewers (i guess), so i give 10/10 for the originality of the story.great atmosphere and on-site filming in Africa, this was really enjoyable.the movie starts great, but then slowly it feels like its forcing itself to go forward, the story telling becomes less and less smooth.michael douglas an actor i love i thought didn't act well in this movie, may be because i am so used to watching him as a NY socialite millionaire CEO but still i feel he didn't act well.finally, i thought the way the lions were depicted is wrong and ''racist'', lions are wild animals who eat meat so they hunt which is totally normal, however in the movie they are depicted as evil monsters with a black and dark heart, whereas they are only doing what animals do, hunt for food.

paiello-44319 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!

schless74 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.

PartialMovieViewer Exciting movie – well acted and brilliantly directed. The attention to detail going into this production is amazing. It seems modern day monsters have to be ridiculously strong; impossible to kill and horribly frightening. I guess a rule of thumb now-a-days would be, 'The scarier the CGI-ghoul, the bigger the shock value and bigger profits.' Nothing like that was used here - just a marriage of talent and skill. I have to say that this flick ended up being a nail-biting-tingle. Brilliant filming, directing and acting transformed two relatively timid lions into some scary hairy beasts (I - uh - guess they were already that.) In order to get a rise out of the audience when the two monster kitties made their approach, everything had to work perfectly. Well in this movie – everything did work flawlessly and the scare factor was outstanding. Without a doubt, Stephen Hopkins is a very talented director and skilled visionary. Of course it did not hurt having two terrifically talented stars such as…Val 'I'll Be Your Huckleberry' Kilmer and Michael Douglas. These two guys were really spot-on. The whole movie is a sight of beauty as well. I highly recommend anyone to watch. It does not have the flash and pace of the movies cranked out now-a-days, but it is still a pretty good ride. Even though the story is loosely based on actual occurrences…the idea is there…and pretty harrowing.