Mel Gibson plays a grieving cop trying to find out who murdered his daughter in a remake of Edge of Darkness
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Film Review: Edge of Darkness (15)
By Kim FrancisFebruary 03, 2010
Stars Mel Gibson, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone, Caterina Scorsone, Shawn Roberts, Denis O’Hare
Based on the 1985 BBC television series of the same name, Edge of Darkness makes a less than compelling transition to the big screen despite – or perhaps because of – the fact it is helmed by the same director, Martin Campbell.
Mel Gibson is Thomas Craven, a homicide detective who dotes on his grown-up daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic), even if he hasn’t always shown it.
His life instantly changes in a moment that he lives to regret – as they leave the house one day, Emma is killed in a drive-by shooting.
Against the wishes of his superiors, Craven takes it upon himself to investigate despite his grief. What he reveals is an elaborate cover-up operation linked to some nefarious corporate and governmental affairs.
Can Craven bring the truth out in the open?
His grief allows him the wherewithal to do whatever he deems necessary to expose the truth and avenge his daughter’s death.
Despite its mix of revenge flick and conspiracy thriller – with a hefty dose of political intrigue thrown in – Edge of Darkness is a largely uninvolving, laboured project that is enlivened only by Gibson’s tortured cop routine (not unlike Lethal Weapon’s Martin Riggs, albeit significantly older), whose on-the-edge behaviour makes him a loose cannon liable to go off at any moment.
And go off he does.
When the killings start, they’re bloody with a spontaneity that is jolting. The frequency with which this technique is used, however, means the impact is eventually deadened.
Designed as it is to shock, by the film’s finale the tension is all but erased.
Brief moments of hesitation – a method employed to ratchet up the film’s tautness – are rendered ineffective because you already know that whoever it is that’s staring down the barrel of the gun has most definitely had his chips.
While it’s great to see Gibson in his first starring role in front of the camera since 2002, Edge of Darkness is disappointingly unengaging and is one for Gibson fans and curious aficionados of the original series only.
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