NORTH STARS

By RICHARD CORLISS

Charles (Anthony Hopkins) is rich beyond the dreams of greed--his dreams, anyway. Other people may have other ideas. Take Robert (Alec Baldwin), a fashion photographer who seems way too chummy with Charles' supermodel wife (Elle Macpherson). On a photo shoot in the Great White North, the two men--Robert with strength and youth, Charles with loads of book learning--fly off in a small plane to an even remoter location. "So," Charles asks Robert, "how are you planning to kill me off?" Seconds later, the plane crashes.

The Edge, from a screenplay by David Mamet... Oh, excuse us while we ask, "Huh?" The Ubermensch of Urban Menace with a wilderness script? Mr. American Buffalo out where the, well, elk roam? Yes, and this is genuine Mametiana: a two-character piece with threats crowding in from the elements (vast space, cold weather, an angry bear) and from a man's bitter, murky soul. It doesn't have much of the Mamet dialogue tang; that is on dazzling display in his forthcoming thriller, The Spanish Prisoner. Still, The Edge, directed by Lee Tamahori, offers enough of what a melodrama demands: two strong characters in mutual creative distrust.

In a small role Macpherson is a mere cartoon character (her name in the film: Mickey Morse). But Bart the grizzly, who starred in 1989's The Bear, deserves a Best Supporting Animal award for his ferocious work. Baldwin is persuasive in his familiar persona, the cagey sleazebag. And as the polymath plutocrat, Hopkins manages to make erudition sexy; a library intelligence and a steely intellect make him Baldwin's ideal adversary. The Edge merits a modest cheer as an action film that celebrates not brute force but survival of the smartest.

--By Richard Corliss