History Film / TheGhostAndTheDarkness

--> '''John:''' I will sort this out. I will kill the lion, and I will build he bridge.

* NonMaliciousMonster: Subverted, more or less. The lions seems to hunt and kill more for fun than for hunger. One of 'em even leave [[spoiler: Remington's]] corpse where Patterson can see him apparently just to provoke him.

* The scene of one of them in the trap with the hunters shooting at it truly happened. The panicked hunters eventually blew out the lever that kept the door closed with their panicked shots, setting the maneater loose into the night.

The movie tells the VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory (mis)adventure of John Henry Patterson (Kilmer), a British-Irish Lieutenant Colonel and Military Engineer that is assigned the supervision of a railroad's construction in 1898 East Africa. This mission that seems so easy at first is soon complicated by the apparition of two reckless [[IAmAHumanitarian anthropophage]] lions, the ''Ghost'' and the ''Darkness'', that manage to infiltrate every part of the construction camp whenever they please to hunt the workers. This obviously spreads panic among the men and makes the threat of rebellion likely, leaving Patterson with only the help of his African assistant Samuel (Creator/JohnKani) and the American hunter Remington (Douglas) to face the lions and save the railroad project before it is too late.

Part because live-acted lions didn't seem much of a threat after theatres had already been attacked by expensive CGI [[Film/JurassicPark dinosaurs]] and [[Film/IndependenceDay alien invaders]], part because the main character (played by the ''goddamn Film/{{Batman|Forever}}'') was heavily toned down to [[ExecutiveMeddling make room for the]] [[WagTheDirector originally tertiary character]] played by producer Michael Douglas, the film got mixed reviews and a disappointing performance in the box-office. It also won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing which is [[ConsolationAward pretty much like winning nothing]]. The movie still remains an entertaining adventure movie with that classical feel in it, however.

* NotEnoughToBury: [[spoiler:Mahina and Remington are eaten to the point of being unrecognizable and the audience doesn't gets to see the worse part of the gore -- and in the case of Mahina, the doctor describes in detail what the lions did to him after an autopsy so we should be thankful we ''don't''.]]

* CatsAreMean: The two feline antagonists are vicious, blood-thirsty wild beasts who at times even appear to be humanly-like evil.

* CatsAreMean: The two feline antagonists are vicious, blood-thirsthy wild beasts who at times even appear to be humanly-like evil.

* MadeOfIron: The lions seems almost immortal sometimes.

The movie tells the VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory (mis)adventure of John Henry Patterson, a British-Irish Lieutenant Colonel and Military Engineer that is assigned the supervision of a railroad's construction in 1898 East Africa. This mission that seems so easy at first is soon complicated by the apparition of two reckless [[IAmAHumanitarian anthropophage]] lions, the ''Ghost'' and the ''Darkness'', that manage to infiltrate every part of the construction camp whenever they please to hunt the workers. This obviously spreads panic among the men and makes the threat of rebellion likely, leaving Patterson with only the help of his African assistant Samuel and the American hunter Remington to face the lions and save the railroad project before it is too late.

* EpicFail: The workers that try to shoot one of the lions when it falls in Paterson's trap only damage the cage [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace and themselves]] with their panicky fire, even if they're standing three to five feet away, ''and'' set the device on fire. It was a whole lot worse in the real events -- not only were the shooters experienced policemen instead of rookies Paterson taught in an afternoon, but [[FreakierThanFiction in a twist that wouldn't have made it into the film because it's too crazy to believe]], one of the bullets [[ShootOutTheLock hit the cage's lock]], letting the lion escape.

%%* AdrenalineMakeover: Patterson.

* CatapultNightmare: Patterson has one.

%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Sir Robert Beaumont.

%%* SlashedThroat

%%* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator
* TitleDrop: "The natives call them The Ghost and The Darkness"
%%* VertigoEffect

* TitleDrop: "The natives call them The Ghost and The Darkness".

* CatsAreMean: The two murderous feline antagonist definetly are.

* BigBad: The two lions.

* BabiesEverAfter: Patterson is reunited with his wife and little child at the end of the movie.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Sir Robert Beaumont.

---> "I'm going to sort it out." *BLAM* "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I'm going. To sort! IT OUT!!]]"

** Creator/RogerEbert defined the film as "an African adventure that makes the {{Tarzan}} movies look subtle and realistic". Ironic considering it's still BasedOnATrueStory.
** Patterson supposedly killed both lions himself, without the help of any professional hunter. If the story was told as both he and others recorded at the time, people would have been decrying it as a pure ego project on the part of Kilmer, who simply must have forced them to turn the movie into a story about his [[invoked]]GodModeSue.

* ForTheEvulz: Implied that's the reason why the lions do their killings. Remington also suggest this when he and Patterson explore their liar full of bones.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: One of the most criticized scenes, the one where a lion falls in one of the traps but the three Indian guards fail to kill him until it escapes... not only happened in reality, but in an even more outlandish way. There were actually like 10 men firing on it, who were agents of the [[IncompetentCop Mombasa police]] (not just railroad guards), and the only one bullet that made target broke the cage's lock [[OhCrap letting the lion escape]].

* GenreSavvy: The lions easily outwit Patterson, and the second they walk into a trap, they attack the hospital, knowing it would take them by surprise.

Nowadays, the movie seems to be best known for how the main character, Patterson, was heavily toned down to [[ExecutiveMeddling make room for the]] [[WagTheDirector originally tertiary character]] played by producer Michael Douglas.

->''" They are not lions, they are [[TitleDrop The Ghost and the Darkness]]."''

Part because live-acted lions didn't seem much of a threat after theatres had already been attacked by expensive CGI [[Film/JurassicPark dinosaurs]] and [[Film/IndependenceDay alien invaders]], part because the main character (played by the ''goddamn Film/{{Batman|Forever}}'') was heavily toned down to [[ExecutiveMeddling make room for the]] [[WagTheDirector originally tertiary character]] played by producer Michael Douglas, the film got mixed reviews and a disappointing performance in the box-office. It also won an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing which is [[ConsolationAward pretty much like winning nothing]]. The movie still remains an entertaining adventure movie with that classical feel in it, however.

* MightyRoar: The lions occasionally does one of these. The result it's quite scary.

* BatmanGambit: Both Patterson and the lions do this repeatedly. Patterson's trap was assuming the lion would hit the tripwire, and it worked, but then the lion trapped continually moved and roared, deducing the workers would be too terrified to shoot wildly. When Patterson, Sterling and Samuel corner one of the lions, it hinged on the other one leaping when they were focused. The barn also worked, but the lions were quick to see through it.

* CannibalLarder: The protagonists find the lions' den while tracking them down, and discover that it is littered with bones of the lions' human victims.

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: Not even great badass hunters like Mahina and Remington can compete against the lions.]]