Film Review: The Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson’s return to the screen tarnished by poor storytelling and predictable characters

Posted on Feb. 01, 2010, at 4:57 a.m.

“Edge of Darkness” is frustratingly less than the sum of its parts. Directed by Martin Campbell, the man behind “Casino Royale,” and written by William Monahan, the writer of “The Departed,” “Darkness” marks the return of Mel Gibson to the silver screen after an eight-year absence. With all this talent involved, one would expect a taut, intense thriller. Unfortunately, the movie tries to be a thriller, a revenge flick and a political mystery, and fails at being all three.

Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a Boston police officer who dotes on his adult daughter, Emma. When she comes home for a visit his excitement evolves into concern when she becomes ill. As they leave for the hospital, a masked gunman arrives at his doorstep and shoots and kills Emma. Craven is devastated but determined to avenge his daughter. Common wisdom indicates Emma’s death was a case of mistaken identity. Authorities believe the killer is an ex-con holding a grudge and the real mark was Craven. But Craven isn’t so sure and launches into an investigation that leads him to sketchy characters and shady deeds.

Regrettably, the mystery doesn’t make much sense, and the parts that do connect are telegraphed a mile away. The audience is often two or three steps ahead of Craven, and this dilutes any sense of drama that could come with the proceedings. There’s one particular character that is so obviously a villain he might as well twirl his mustache and snicker as he misdirects our hero.

This all makes for a very boring movie with only occasional flashes of excitement, usually provided by Gibson or Ray Winstone as Jedburgh, a government spook. When the pair share the screen we see hints of what the film could have been, which makes it all the more frustrating. The movie has an interesting idea at its center, but it’s buried under clumsy exposition, pointless plot points and an utter lack of dramatic tension.

While “Edge of Darkness” is opening at the same time as 2009’s “Taken” and is being sold in a similar way — angry dad unleashing vengeance for his daughter — this film is nothing like that. There are some action scenes, but they’re sub-par and few and far between. They are poorly shot and cut and the audience can’t tell who is hitting whom, or where the hits are even landing. Those hoping to see Gibson kick ass and take names will be sorely disappointed.

Gibson does well in the role, but it doesn’t seem to be much of a challenge for him. Craven isn’t much different from Benjamin Martin from “The Patriot,” or Martin Riggs from “Lethal Weapon.” He does, however, get to deliver the strangest line of dialogue I may have ever heard, threatening a thug with throwing a “box of tarantulas” into the “situation.” One wonders what that even means. His performance is stripped down and simple, and one wishes the story followed his example.

In the end, “Darkness” feels like an in-between film. Gibson uses it as a warm up for his big comeback, and Campbell is using it as a warm up for his upcoming “Green Lantern.” Hopefully their next efforts will shine as brightly as this one should have.

Final Grade: C

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010, 4:57 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.