DVD Reviews

Edge of Darkness – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce May 17, 2010, 22:23 GMT

The bullet that killed his daughter was meant for Boston cop Thomas Craven. That\'s what police brass and Craven himself think, but that\'s not what the investigation finds. Clue after clue and witness after witness, the search leads him into a shadowy realm where money and political intrigue intersect. If Craven wasn\'t a target before, he - and anyone linked to his inquiry - now is. Mel Gibson stars in ...more

In the big screen remake of Edge of Darkness, a gruff and older looking Mel Gibson goes on an unstoppable quest for revenge and answers following the murder of his daughter.

The film features a tough and mean Mad Mel, but has little else to offer thanks to a plot that is a tad familiar and characters that aren’t around enough to matter.

Based on a 1985 BBC mini-series, the remake was directed by Martin Campbell (who handled directing chores on the original television series) and featured a screenplay by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell based on the original screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin.

The film also features a great ensemble cast including Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, and Bojana Novakovic.

In a condensed synopsis, the film follows Gibson’s Boston police detective Thomas Craven who sets out to discover why his daughter Emma (Novakovic) was murdered following her being gunned down on his front doorsteps.

At first, it is believed that Gibson was the target due to his police work, but he quickly discovers that her death had to do with the research company Northmoor (which handles government nuclear weapons contracts) and its head Jack Bennett (Huston).

Gibson’s portrayal of Craven is a tad like a bull stampeding over anything he considers in the way of getting to the truth, and pretty much bulldozes his way from person to person – stopping only to ask a handful of questions before moving to the next person.

If the person doesn’t want to talk, Gibson finds ways of getting the answers through slaps, pistol whips, and just glaring like an angry old dog about to lose his bone.

His investigation sends him face to face with Bennett, and it doesn’t take long for him to figure out Bennett is behind everything. He also discovers that Bennett has some high level friends and that his daughter was in way over her head trying to take them down. Gibson’s investigation also reveals that she would have died from radiation poisoning had she not been shot.

Craven’s investigation also has him cross paths with government “fixer” Jedburgh (Winstone) – who may or may not be on the same side as Gibson. Jedburgh gives Craven more information about the death of his daughter and the Northmoor cover-up.

The film takes several predictable twists and turns as Gibson’s street cop manages to navigate his way through a dense mystery and discovers the truth behind the murder. He also learns first hand how far Bennett will go to silence him. The whole film comes to a boil as Gibson takes the law into his own hands to make sure Bennett pays for the death.

Given Monahan’s work on films like The Departed and Gibson’s experience in this type of revenge genre, I really expected more from Edge of Darkness. The movie is not bad, but it is a bit of a mess and never takes a turn you don’t see coming. 

Part of the problem could be that the writers had to condense a story that originally had about five hours to work out. The film runs right under two hours, and it seems characters are thrown into the plot just to make an appearance or give Gibson a slight nudge in a different direction. None of the film’s characters have the time to fully develop and therefore there is no real emotional connection to them.

The writers do a great job of making the daughter (who is killed in the opening minutes of the movie) matter through “ghost” hallucinations that Craven is having throughout the film. The audience is able to see the daughter as a little girl, as a teen, and as a grown woman through flashbacks that Craven has to happier times. 

Other characters seem to need some more screen time to really matter - such as Jedburgh and Bennett. Winstone and Huston are incredible actors, but they barely get enough time to shine in this film. 

Huston (with his snarly facial expressions) is the perfect screen villain and his character seems to have some quirks that make people think he is insane. However, the audience is never given enough time to truly hate him or know for sure how evil he is (there is some talk about the company making a nuclear bomb with foreign material but it is unclear what its purpose will be). 

Winstone seems to also be a very deadly person in the film, but all he really does is sit around smoking cigars and mumbling. There is a strange scene where he finds out he is dying from some illness, and I guess that is his motivation for events later in the film. If you blink, you might miss this little bit of information.

Regardless of the supporting characters, this is Gibson’s film (his big return to acting), and he does a solid job. His accent is a tad mumbled from time to time, but his fierce rage is clear from start to finish. He growls, stares and pretty much beats up anyone in his way. 

However, the performance and plot just reminded me of the character Liam Neeson recently played in Taken – which made me want to just watch that film instead. Gibson is good in the film, but the audience has seen it all before, and he has been better. Again, I think some of the film’s problems are due to the short running time compared to the five hours that the BBC original had to let the plot and characters develop.

The film looks solid on Blu-ray, but it is nothing that makes your jaw drop. The format helps the production design, cinematography work, and music move the film along and sell what the audience is watching on the screen. 

The Blu-ray also has some decent special features that take a look at the making of the film, a look at Gibson’s return to acting, and how the city of Boston was used as a character in the film.

Edge of Darkness is a solid return for Mel Gibson, but the film is easily forgettable. The movie has some moments of tension, but the predictable and condensed plot keeps it from really holding the audience’s attention. Gibson fans will like what they see, but the film really doesn’t compare to past movies Gibson has tackled in the revenge/action genre.

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