The Edge

Question: To find south why not look at the sun. East to West?

Answer: That would only work when the sun is visible. In Alaska there are frequent rainy and overcast days where the sun is completely blocked by heavy clouds, making a precise directional determination difficult, if not impossible.

raywest

Chosen answer: Although Bob intended to kill Charles (to obtain his wife and wealth), they unexpectedly were struggling for survival in the wilderness. Working together increases their chances of rescue, and Bob cannot survive without Charles' help. He therefore saves him from the rapids. Plot-wise, this makes Charles think that his suspicions about Bob may be wrong. Also, Bob is not a born killer, and may be hesitant about actually committing murder, particularly someone he had admired and respected. Bob likely planned to kill Charles when rescue was imminent and then claim Charles died accidentally. Regarding the title, because the movie is not based on a book of that name, the filmmakers probably chose it for its marketing value because it sounded dramatic. This is a suspense/adventure movie, and "edge" can have multiple meanings, such as being "on the edge," as to whether or not Bob will carry out his plan. It can also refer to the razor-sharp edge of a weapon, an "edgy" emotional situation, and so on.

raywest

Answer: It is called the edge because Charles had a mental edge on Bob.

Answer: Two reasons for the title: They had an edge on the bear with their human intelligence, and they utilized the edge on that knife with it. Two edges.

roy sandefur

Question: When Steve injured himself making the spear for fishing and Charles helped to treat his wound, he asked Bob to bury the cloth. Did Bob hang the cloth in a tree intentionally? Or did he just not know that other animals could smell that for miles? Especially the bear they had encountered beforehand.

Answer: The latter. He didn't think it was necessary to bury it because a) he was lazy, and b) he knew nothing about animals or wilderness survival, much less bears' sense of smell. He was just trying to get rid of it with as little work as possible.

Question: If Charles was so smart, why didn't he think to make a bow with arrows to kill the bear instead of spears? They had the wood (the spears) and the rope (used in the trap).

mozeus5

Chosen answer: Bows have to be quite carefully constructed if they're going to be remotely effective - you can't just throw one together using a few bits of wood and some rope. Making spears may expose them to far more danger, but, given what they've got to work with, they represent the best chance of being effective against the bear.

Tailkinker

Question: Even though there was a rope ladder in the bear pit where Alec Baldwin impaled his leg, how could he have climbed the ladder, he was in great agony on the table in the cabin?

mozeus5

Chosen answer: Under extreme and dire circumstances, the body can produce excessive amounts of adrenalin, enabling a person to ignore pain and perform physical feats they would ordinarily be unable to do.

raywest

Answer: It does not appear that she was involved. Robert even tells Charles at the end that she had nothing to do with it. The entire plot seems to have been spontaneous on Robert's part as no-one expected the plane to crash or for survivors to be stranded in the wilderness.

raywest

Question: Does Charles kill Bob in the end? Why does he hold his fingers down on what looks like his nose and or mouth when he covers his face as the helicopter circles?

Answer: Charles repeatedly reassured Bob, saying, "I'm going to get us out of here," and "Don't die on me, Bob"; which would seem to indicate that Charles intended for them both to make it out alive. Indeed, if Charles had any intention of putting Bob out of his misery, he could have done it much earlier. So, no, Charles didn't kill Bob.

Charles Austin Miller

Hello I thought Steve hurt himself running down a hill, this version I'm watching had him cut himself while trying to make a spear.

You must have misremembered. It is an important plot point as the blood from his knife wound ends up on the cloth Bob neglected to bury; thus leading to the bear attack and Stephen's resulting death.

Answer: He didn't kill Bob. He died from his injuries. Charles may just have been touching his face to close his eyes or mouth after death. It may have just been a gesture for some unknown reason.

raywest

Factual error: Charles and Robert manage to outrun a charging Alaskan brown bear over a course of several hundred meters, leading it into a trap. This is absurd. The absolute maximum running speed of a human being is about 27 kilometers an hour, and that is for an appropriately dressed, fit athlete over a very short course on flat ground. They are in a rock strewn stream and are wearing heavy winter clothes. A fit, healthy, active male Alaskan brown bear like the one chasing them could hit 45 kmh in that environment without popping a sweat and could keep that up for a kilometer or more. When enraged or charging prey - as this one was - they have been clocked at 56kmh. This is nothing to do with an adrenaline rush - that will not enable Charles or Robert to exceed their body's maximum running speed by 200%.

More mistakes in The Edge

Stephen: A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

More quotes from The Edge

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