EDGE OF DARKNESS (B-)
This could be called the comeback for Mel Gibson after his drunken Anti-Semitic tirade. He stars as Thomas Craven, a Boston Police Officer hunting down the killer responsible for the murder of his daughter Emma. The movie does a great job setting up Thomas Craven's relationship with his daughter giving motive for his merciless hunt to find the answers to why his daughter was killed.
Edge of Darkness was well acted and featured powerful emotional highs and lows from Gibson as an actor. It has been awhile since audiences have seen him on the big screen, and the old man has still got it. The supporting cast also turned in a note worthy performances. The only thing that bothered me about the delivery of the script was the thick Boston accents that caused interpretation of the important dialogue difficult. Often the characters would discuss important plot elements that I had no idea what was said because I'm not from Baaaaoston.
The average script composed by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell was strong in some regards and featured glaring weaknesses in others. Mixed into the plot was great suspense, powerful dialogue and good one liners, and a cliff hanging story that unfolded wonderfully as the film progressed.
However, the bad parts of the script sabotaged the overall project with ludicrous plot twists, a dense storyline unfolded almost entirely through the Baaaoston dialogue and no other creative means, and a ridiculous murder of an informant that rivals a scene from Final Destination.
The director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Golden Eye, The Mask of Zorro) set the uncertain mood for the film with his camera angles and the constant dark hues. Campbell and film producer Michael Wearing helped create a 1985 British six-episode TV series also entitled Edge of Darkness with the same plot line. With experience producing this story beforehand (but a change of setting to Beantown), you can imagine they both pulled off their roles in this project very well.
Overall, Edge of Darkness is a solid all-around return to the silver screen for Mel Gibson. The story was intriguing and featured Gibson on a ruthless path to justice. Unfortunately, the bad portions of the script were too painful to keep the project floating upright. This is a movie I would recommend seeing based solely on the fact that you may like it more than I did. Edge of Darkness is definitely a movie I never need to see again, so you decide whether it is worth your time.
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