I was glad to finally see this picture as I never seemed to catch it from the beginning and the plot sounded good.
This film tells of a rich man named Charles Morse (played by Sir Anthony Hopkins) who travels with a small group of people including his beautiful model wife Mickey (played by Elle Macpherson), her photographer Bob Green (played by Alec Baldwin), and Bob's assistant named Stephen (played by Harold Perrineau) to Alaska for a photo shoot for Mickey. The party arrives at a remote lodge that is reached by plane. A caretaker/guardian named Styles (played by L.Q. Jones) and a couple of other people staff the lodge.
On the first evening, Charles displays a talent for remembering seemingly useless facts much to the amazement of the group. It is also apparent that Charles is a touch sensitive about the fact that he is rich and how others gravitate to him as a result of his wealth. Charles is also somewhat insecure as he is almost painfully aware of the fact that he is much older than his beautiful wife Mickey and many men desire her or at least have expressed admiration for her beauty. Charles is very aware that Bob seems to be very attracted to his wife and probably wants her for himself.
Styles warns the guests that they shouldn't leave food out ever as they are in bear country. He further gives instructions on how they should deal with a bear if they come across one. Finally he reassures them that he will deal with any bears that they come across if they come across any bears.
After everyone retires to bed on the first evening, Charles kindly goes downstairs to make a sandwich for his wife after she sort of demands/asks him to make her a sandwich. While Charles is downstairs he gets spooked after finding that a door leading outside isn't shut. All of Styles' warnings about bears and food naturally cause Charles to consider that a bear is in the house. In a very thoughtless manner (although there is an implication that there were no mean-spirited intentions) Bob dresses in a bear skin and jumps out at Charles startling him while the other guests reveal a surprise birthday gathering. Bob apologizes but I thought that his wife was quite mean to arrange such a surprise birthday gathering given the circumstances.
The following day, Bob asks Charles and Stephen to accompany him on a trip to locate a local trapper for Bob to photograph him. The two men agree and the three plus a pilot take off in the plane. The plan is to photograph the trapper then return all in the course of a few hours.
After the plane goes down, Charles, Bob, and Stephen attempt to make their way back to the lodge on foot. Along the way they cross paths with a large grizzly bear that charges after them, chasing them and causing them to cross a log to safety. After eluding the bear, a showdown of sorts erupts between Charles and Bob.
Charles is as calm and level-headed as a person can be given the circumstances. Bob is understandably frightened and as such excitable. He consistently does the wrong thing though whether it is to spite Charles or because he is that stressed is kind of hard to tell. Stephen gets injured in his leg, further slowing the progress of the group. The bear catches up to them at least partly due to Bob's carelessness/willfulness and Stephen is killed by the bear. So it is that Charles and Bob must rely on each other to try to survive their ordeal and get back to the lodge.
The film was well done in my opinion. The story was well thought out and belivable. Some people would anticipate certain factors of this film that others might find surprising/unexpected.
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