Africa 1896: two lions, hunting together for sport rather than food, almost put paid to the East African Railroad by the simple expedient of eating scores of its workers. The British engineer in charge of building a bridge there (Val Kilmer) is eventually joined by a famous white hunter (Michael Douglas), but the legendary lions survive to kill and kill again on a mixture of luck and cunning. The result, at its best, is a handsome adventure story with a frenziedly exciting last reel: the downside is that there's a lot of hanging around waiting for the lions to come and the plot quickly develops into coyote and road runner stuff as the beasts contemptuously evade all traps set for them. Kilmer is excellent with his complex mixture of calm, bravado and uncertainty. But Douglas is a touch too wild-eyed as a sort of Cactus Jack of the African plains.

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