In the fading years of the 19th century, the British Empire sends an engineer (Val Kilmer) to Africa to build the railroad that will conquer the Dark Continent. No sooner does he arrive when demonic man-eating lions begin preying upon his workers, who quite naturally begin to quit. Enter a famed white hunter (Mike Douglas), hired by the railroad to take care of the situation. The Ghost And The Darkness was intended to be a story of man facing the spiritual and physical challenges of nature in the crucible of Africa; it winds up a confused miasma of buddy-movie colonialism. Douglas and Kilmer alternate between delivering standard he-man dialogue and nodding at the native African wisdom; the lions do a little impressive roaring and some ridiculous, Aliens-style attacking and mauling; and the stunning beauty of Africa is shot with all the sensitivity and grandeur of a 10-cent postcard. Some might even say the movie's messages and themes are racist attempts to justify colonialism, but they're wrong; this forgettable movie doesn't have any messages, or anything else, at all.