The Razor's Edge (1984)

Just perfect...

Disturbing yet enthralling

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The second adaptation of the iconic novel, this Bill Murray centric- version follows him as Larry, an early 20th century socialite who ends serving as an ambulance driver in WW1. Marked by this experience, he distances himself from the high life in America and begins a global search for life's meaning, from the mines of Britannia to the mountains of Tibet.Beautifully mounted, the 80s 'Razor's Edge' assembles a lot of great components, yet never fully meets expectation. From a writing standpoint, this is down to the inciting incident that leads to Larry's soul search: it just isn't well developed enough. The WW1 segment isn't very long, and you don't really get the impression that Larry is scarred or shocked by it. What's more, they try to have him have this relationship with his officer, Piedmont (played by Brian Murray), but the screen time they do share sees them more at odds or Larry being bewildered by the brashness of Piedmont. Why does his death matter so much to Larry? As a byproduct of this one misfire, it weakens everything else in the story, and makes Larry's journey not feel as powerful or weighty as it so badly needs to be.This is a genuine shame that they got this one key element wrong, as everything else is top notch. It's very well filmed, especially thanks to its international, on location backdrop. The stuff up in the Himalayas in particular is pretty spectacular. Performances are also of a similar calibre; for his first straight role, old Bill isn't half bad. Sometimes he can be a little rigid, but for the most part, his dryness and friendly demeanour compensate. He is joined by the likes of Catherine Hicks, Theresa Russell and James Keach, who all add solid work. And finally, Jack Nitzsche's score; very elegant, and though it mainly relies on a recurring motif of strings that sounds very similar to Morricone's 'Time of Destiny', it actually works rather well and is genuinely moving.In the end, 'Razor's Edge' is an ambitious failure, but not a boring or indulgent one at least. For Murray fans, it's an intriguing little curio and an important step in his development.

The title says it all. I've read pages of reviews for the Razor's Edge. Add me to the list of people who think that the viewer needs "the right kind of eyes" to understand this film. Watching this film, for the viewer with "the right kind of eyes" is like a cinematic punch in the gut. It will move the viewer without being the least bit preachy.I saw this film for the first time as a teen. (On HBO, I think.) I decided on the spot that I wasn't going to live a normal, boring life. I wasn't going to allow myself to be like the people in my suburban neighborhood -- caring about a nice house and a new car every year.I also found that I agree with the premise that there is no "meaning of life." It just is. We make our own meaning. So make yours a good one.I created an account here so that I could write this. For me, this isn't the best movie ever made. It's far more important than that. (Read the book, too. I saw the film first so that's what changed my life. I don't know if reading the book alone would have been enough.)

I would suppose a review is some prelude, allowing a person to judge whether you want to watch or not. Nonetheless, I am world traveler, who has perpetually traveled for 13 years, and visited 90 countries. This movie by far is the number one Travel Movie of all time, it embodies every aspect of real travel, truly if you believe yourself an intelligent traveler, it is a must see.The Best Travel Movies include these concepts: 1.Travel: Transportation, therefore travel 2.Reality: There is a feasibly resemblance to reality. 3.Culture: Two or more different cultures clashing or meeting. 4.Sleeping: Spending the night in room other than a home 5.Time: A Journey over time, the journey happens normally over a period of month or years, this is not 6.A Dream 7.A Search for something 8.Love 9.A Story 10.Starting a journey without a good reason, just faith and belief that it will work out. 11.Serendipitous learning about ones selfAndy Graham of HoboTraveler.com on Lago Atitlan, Guatemala 2011

I can't even get to dealing with the supposedly wonderful themes of the movie, because... who cares? It's so oddly edited, as a string of disconnected vignettes. Almost every scene for the bulk of the movie, we see time pass: Establishing theme with some vaguely establishing shot. Something overly interesting happens. The results of that lead to something rather chatty and boring. That segues into something "meaningful." You can tell, because the theme music picks up!!!! Repeat.Oh, but the cinematography! Is mostly boring, really. Maybe 1-2 minutes of nice photography, but mostly boring as hell. It's mostly filmed like a comedy, with everyone fully- lit, centered when it's their turn to say something or react to someone else.And that's before I get to the part where Bill Murray spends most of the film looking amused with himself. Only in the last 45 minutes is he even approaching being in the same movie as everyone else, and he still is so inconsistent and a product of 1984 that I cannot believe he has felt anything or believes there is life and death stuff going on.I gave the whole thing a chance, I really did. Watched it all straight through, and didn't even mock it until the credits rolled. It's just not that good.