I eagerly waited for the screening of Edge of Darkness, because it features one of my favorite actors: Danny Huston. No no, I’m just kidding. It’s actually Mel Gibson. Yes, that’s right. After an eight year hiatus, his last movie was Signs, Mel is back and while Edge of Darkness is not the movie that is going to whiz him back up to the A list, it isn’t a bad start.
In Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson who is a homicide detective for the Boston Police department suddenly has nothing to live for when his daughter is suddenly murdered. The movie is your classic revenge story. Similarly to last years Taken which was released around the same time last year and made a surprising amount of money. However, unlike Taken, Edge of Darkness is a little more complicated as it involves government conspiracy and a redemption seeking hit man.
There is a great performance here from Ray Winstone who plays Jedburgh as a freelance government “consultant”. Sadly his great performance is insignificant as his character doesn’t fit in with the rest of the movie. One other thing that really bothered me, is that I which I could understand what the hell Jedburgh was talking about. At times his British accent was so thick that I could barely understand a word. There is this one long scene in which Craven and Jedburgh first meet that literally stops the entire flow of the movie.
While the movie doesn’t have as much action as Taken, it does have about three very exciting scenes, but don’t go in looking for constant back to back action. Also, the whole government conspiracy thing gets a like hairy at times. Overall, there isn’t a thing in this movie we haven’t seen before, but Mel Gibson’s performance gives it that little lift that makes this a fairly entertaining movie.
Review
By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
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