Edge of Darkness

(Synopsis) Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a veteran homicide detective in the Boston Police Department. As they are walking out the front door of his house, his 24-year old daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is blow away by a shotgun blast. Everyone assumes that Thomas, who was standing next to her, was the killer's intended target. However, Thomas begins to suspect that Emma was the real target. Driven by heartache and blame, Thomas initiates his own private investigation to uncover Emma's secret life and the reason for her murder. His investigation leads him down the path of corporate and government cover-ups, which resulted in his daughter's elimination. Thomas receives some help from a government operative, Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who has been sent in to clean up the situation. Thomas Craven's search for the truth brings him closer to his daughter and his own deliverance.

(My Comment) This is an intense movie about family and closure, and of course, Detective Thomas Craven has a little different type of closure in mind. Some of the movie is a little hard to follow when Thomas does something, and you ask yourself, "why did he do that." But that might be part of the puzzle he is trying to solve. The reason the bad guys use for keeping everything secret is a little far-fetched. Mel Gibson's masterful portrayal of a man with nothing to lose is excellent. Everybody better get out of his way. From the movie trailers you would think that Thomas is going around threatening and killing everybody he meets, but that is not the case. Thomas does take out some of the bad guys, which will meet with your approval. This is a good action movie, but you must remember that it is definitely heavy on violence. (Warner Bros., Run Time 1:57, Rated R)(8/10)

Mel Gibsons first stab at a lead role since...wait for it....2002's Signs. He went behind the camera for the graphic Passion of the Christ and the beautiful Apocalypto. With Edge of Darkness he's back with the gun in his hand and on a quest to find answers. His daughter was shot dead right in front of him on their porch. The gunman yelled her last name and fled. Craven, being a cop, thought it was for him, not his daughter. He quickly discovers that there was more to his little girl than he originally thought and is determined to find out who killed her and why.

Everyone loves a good mystery film right? A detective is solving clues to find the truth behind some kind of cover up? Edge of Darkness thinks it's one of those films. Gibson goes to people, looking for answers. He gets little in return. People are scared, there is something big going down and only MEL Gibson can stop it. For Craven, he has nothing left to loose. His only daughter died in his arms, he's not afraid to die. A bit of a revenge tale like Death Wish, but the Chinatown aspect of it sets it apart enough to make it enjoyable.

Gibson throws on a Boston accent, nothing too irritating. There are a few scenes that you'll have to suspend reality for, like when someone gets hit by a car at the right place at the right time. A little far fetched just for the sake of shock value. Edge of Darkness is good enough to keep your attention for the running time, but not great enough to have you keep talking about it days later. It's a well made time waster for those looking for something that will entertain.

I enjoyed this a lot, especially Gibson's role and Ray Winstone's portrayal of the ambiguous fixer. The ending is satisfying and a bit surprising. Someone said the ending was corny, which it may be, but I actually think it's true to life and what really happens at the end.

Plenty of guys you love to hate, and the flashbacks of the hero with his child were lovely. I really doubt a US Senator would be so sleazy, but what do I know?

Man, they sure want a lot of characters. Minimalism is my preferred style, so it's hard to think of things to say. I like Gibson, despite his personal problems, which are none of my business.

Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a good cop whose only daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) returns for a visit. While she initially appears to be fine, she turns out to be incredibly sick. On the way to see a doctor, Emma is gunned down in Craven's front doorway. His fellow detectives think the hit was meant for him, but Craven digs deeper and believes the nuclear manufacturing company she worked for may have something to do with it.

When Edge of Darkness was released this past January, it was marketed as a return for Gibson to the action thriller genre he has always excelled at. Except the film was actually more of a slow burn thriller, much like last year's fascinating and incredibly well done State of Play, and both based off a BBC mini-series. Albeit, this film is punctuated with scenes filled with incredibly graphic violence. But that initial flub is not the only thing working against the film.

The film masquerades as being break-neck paced, and uses this as an excuse to never really develop anyone. Emma is killed off less than ten minutes after the film begins, and the film never really lets up afterwards with Craven's search for the truth about his daughter's murder. We get very little on who Craven is, outside of a few dialogue inferences and his "nothing to lose" attitude. In a way, he is very similar to Liam Neeson's absent minded character in last year's Taken, except Craven actually takes the time to talk to people and not just kill them off. We get even less on Emma, outside of seeing her as a child in home video footage that appears to be haunting Craven.

If that were not enough, the film throws multiple characters at the audience almost at random, and very few of them stick. I found it incredibly hard to keep track of at least a handful of them, because they were so similar. Outside of Ray Winstone's Jedburgh and Danny Huston's Bennett, most of the characters are of no particular significance other than to move Craven's investigation along. I imagine this issue is largely the fault of the original six-part mini-series, which had the time to bring in a plethora of characters and develop them as opposed to a two-hour film. But State of Play managed to both keep its focus for the majority of time and develop its main stable of characters fairly well. How could this film not follow suit?

The film also suffers from a fairly ridiculous third act. Getting into specifics would ruin the film, but what can be said is that it ruins everything that came before it. It betrays everything the film has going for it, and boils itself down into a rather goofy actioner. The film is never really a revenge thriller, but more of a thriller about a man trying to find out why his daughter was killed. I really enjoyed the film and its last half when I first saw it theatrically a few months ago. But watching it again at home, it almost comes off as having gone totally off the rails much too quickly. The film's penchant for hyper violence gets far too ahead of itself, and it feels almost like the filmmakers wanted to please the audience with something totally different than what the film sets up for (plus, it feels a bit too close in similarity to the ending of another of William Monahan's previous scripts).

Despite all this, the film is still great when it is playing itself as the slow burn thriller it actually is. It is taut, suspenseful, and a touch unpredictable. For its problems, I really enjoyed the conspiracy filled storyline, and really liked some of the twists it took. It did remind me a lot of State of Play, but never feels like it is trying to steal its thunder or underrated greatness. It does have moments where you are on the edge of your seat, and does have moments where it makes a genuine attempt at making you think.

But this whole film would mean nothing if it were not for Gibson. This film was his first in a significant starring role since M. Night Shyamalan's last good film, Signs. Despite having been off the scene for eight years, this does not seem to have made Gibson lose any of his intensity or gravitas. He owns the screen in every scene he is in, and brings a certain immediacy to the role. It was interesting seeing him in such a wounded and devastating role, but he plays it with such strength and ferocity that you almost forget this was a guy who once cracked jokes as a suicidal cop and helped take down the British as a legendary Scottish commoner. He is a man who knows his craft, and knows just the right amount of seriousness to bring to the role.

Although not nearly as well showcased, both Winstone and Huston pull off great performances in their underwritten roles. Both were clearly much better developed in the series (and remain rather enigmatic throughout the film), but are still equally good here despite being overshadowed by Gibson. I would have enjoyed a whole lot more emphasis on both of them than the multiple other characters thrust at the audience over the course of the film.

Edge of Darkness is not a bad film, but it is not a good enough film to hold up on multiple viewings. I really enjoyed it the first time I saw it, but I found it less entertaining and much more problematic the second time round. But watch it for the driving force of Gibson above anything else. Time away definitely helped him become a stronger performer, and I can only hope his intensity will continue to shine.

7/10.

(Portions of this review originally appeared on http://www.dvdfanatic.com).

I saw this movie at an early screening and was delighted.

I give this movie three stars out of four, or 8 of ten points for great characters, intrigue, and some startling action scenes. It looses the 2 points because it does tend to slow down a little and become more dramatic at times but if you are a Mel Gibson fan you probably won't mind that at all. This movie reminded me a little of Taken, with a whole lot of Enemy of the State, and just a touch of Jason Bourne. Mel Gibson is engaging in his first acting role in years, although he definitely looks older now. It's hard to watch Gibson here without thinking of Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon and there is some carryover but here Craven played by Gibson is the older, caring, Father who is also a cop although there is still some of of the craziness that made Mel so dynamic in a number of his roles. In some ways Mel reminded me here a little of Clint Eastwood in movies like Absolute Power and In the Line of Fire as the more mature protagonist who combines maturity and cunning with a fierce side that comes out in battle.

It's not giving anything away to say that the story is about Mel Gibson's character trying to find out who killed his daughter as that much is in the trailer. Mel plays a veteran detective and so has skills and resources we civilians don't. The movie takes a while to develop and takes great pains to show the love of Craven for his daughter in the opening scenes and then periodically remind us in flashbacks. There are a lot of characters which seem to be critical to building the intrigue of the movie; activists, defense contractors, government officials and various henchmen. The movie does a good job for a while of hiding who is working for whom. Suspense does build for most of the movie but a good bit before the end it is evident what is going on and the movie shifts from an action thriller to more of an pure action movie.

Ray Winstone plays an intriguing role as Jedburgh, deftly showing protagonist and antagonist sides at different times in a mysterious role. Danny Huston plays a multi-dimensional character, Jack Bennet, that is fun to watch. Bojana Novakovic as Emma Craven is a sweetheart. Jay O. Sanders plays a solid role as Detective Whitehouse.

The movie is definitely heavy on violence and acting independent of authority although I don't remember any swearing or sex scenes. Still it requires a mature audience as the hero's actions are probably not ones you want your kids emulating in your house. As with so many movies it portrays sides of business and government at their worst. So,since it is light on sexuality and vulgarity I would suggest that if you let your older kids go that you still discuss the extreme portrayals of the police, use of force, business and government.

It's good to see Mel back in action.