Edge of Darkness Review

Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 02.01.2010

Not much of an acting return for Mel Gibson...

"Edge of Darkness" Review

Mel Gibson- Thomas Craven
Ray Winstone- Jedburgh
Danny Huston- Jack Bennett
Bojana Novakovic- Emma Craven
Shawn Roberts- Burnham
Jay O. Sanders- Whitehouse
David Aaron Baker- Millroy
Denis O'Hare- Moore
Damian Young- Senator Jim Pine

Directed by Martin Campbell
Screenplay by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell, based on a television series by Troy Kenney-Martin

Distributed by Warner Bros
Rated R for strong bloody violence and language
Runtime- 117 minutes

Website: http://edge-of-darkness.warnerbros.com/



"Edge of Darkness" is one of those action dramas that could use a little more action and a little less drama. The flick, directed by Martin Campbell (he also directed the BBC miniseries the movie is based on) and starring Mel Gibson in his first starring role in eight years, often tries too hard to be deliberately sad and heart felt and important, bogging itself down in the dark emotions of Gibson's revenge filled Boston cop and father when it should be ramping up and "getting on with it." The flick, while never really boring, is far too contemplative for its own good.

Gibson stars as Thomas Craven, a Boston detective trying to find out who killed his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic). When the flick starts, Craven picks Emma up at the train station, excited that he'll finally get to spend some time with her (they've grown estranged over the years, and since she's off working in another town she's not around as much). After getting her home and attempting to catch up, Emma starts puking blood. Before he can get her to a hospital and before she can tell him some big, important secret Emma is killed by a shotgun wielding assassin right on her father's front porch. She ends up dying in her father's arms. When the cops show up to investigate the matter, led by Craven's former partner Whitehouse (the great Jay O. Sanders), everyone assumes that Emma's death is an accident, that the killer was actually targeting Craven. Craven doesn't really buy that, but he goes along with the investigation and checks his files to see if anyone he arrested in the past looks good for his daughter's murder. No one does. So what the heck is going on here?



Craven, ignoring orders from his superiors to let someone else handle it (it's also against regulations for Craven to investigate since he's so close to what happened), attacks the case full bore. He checks into his dead daughter's friends, boyfriend (David Burnham, as played by Shawn Roberts), and her work at the weapons research company Northmoor, which is run by Jack Bennett (Danny Huston). Every lead goes off into a very dark place (Emma's friends are scared to talk about what she used to do, Burnham attacks Craven when Craven comes to his apartment, figuring that Craven is an assassin sent by the guys in the black trucks that are always following him, and Bennett claims that he can't divulge anything about Emma's work because it's all classified). Craven presses on anyway, claiming that he has nothing to lose with this investigation. Finding out who killed Emma and why is the most important thing in Craven's world, and he really will stop at nothing to find out the truth. But can Craven actually do it, can he really find the truth?

To a certain extent you understand why director Campbell decided to go with a more low key approach to what amounts to a massive conspiracy movie because Mel Gibson clearly isn't the bigger than life star he used to be and as a result Gibson doesn't play Craven as something beyond a no nonsense, world weary detective that's done it all and seen it all. He's resourceful, sure (check out the brutal hand-to-hand apartment destroying fight he has with Burnham), but he's also going to get tired after kicking ass or getting his ass kicked. But the movie overcompensates in that regard, making Gibson's Craven far too morose and sad. The movie makes it clear at the beginning, right after Emma is killed, that Craven is a man of action and a man ultimately devoted to his work. If he wasn't devoted to his job he probably wouldn't have been as gung ho ignoring his orders and getting on with the investigation. There would have been a longer period of mourning (there's a scene in the morgue where Craven, in very angry but still somewhat nonchalant fashion, identifies Emma's body. He kisses her forehead, but it comes off as something he figured people would expect of him rather than something he wanted to do because of his grief, It's obvious he'd much rather be pounding the pavement and chasing down leads). So why keep that "man of action" thing so subdued throughout? Even when Craven gets pissed off it doesn't feel like he's really getting pissed off (the scene with the senator comes to mind). A world weary, cerebral hero can only work so long before serious ass kicking has to, nay, must, enter into the story at some point. I'm not saying Gibson needs to be decapitating people and shooting rockets into buildings and killing endless henchmen every five minutes, but had there been a little more of what we see at the end of the movie towards the middle "Edge of Darkness" would have been a better, more satisfying movie.



The flick's other big problem is Ray Winstone's Jedburgh character. Winstone does a great job making the mysterious "fixer" Jedburgh sinister and interesting, but because you're never really sure what his deal really is Jedburgh comes off as a character Campbell put into the movie because Winstone was available and he wanted to work with him, not so much because the movie needed him. If he's so integral to what's going on, if Jedburgh's job is to "prevent people from going from A to B" why isn't he more antagonistic to Craven? Why isn't Jedburgh the defacto villain of the movie? And why the hell is he British?

Gibson, despite all of the heartfelt hooey, is pretty okay as Craven. He still has the necessary charisma and screen presence to carry a movie, even one as overly wrought as this one. I think it's cool that he's interested in playing his age and allowing his "physical flaws" to show (thinning hair, etc) but he hasn't found the right balance between his new persona and his old persona quite yet. He can "act" all he wants and be an artist and do "important work," etc., but he also needs to find a way to keep kicking ass when he can. Chuck Bronson never stopped kicking ass, even when he was old and it was ridiculous. Even when it's ridiculous people still want to see you doing it because that's what you do. In short, Mel Gibson, in movies like this one, just needs to shoot more people.



Danny Huston is pretty decent as the corporate scumbag Jack Bennett. Huston keeps Bennett at a distance from what he sets into motion because that's what people who think they're above the law always try to do (everything is under control, and if it isn't, it's someone else's fault). His final scenes are hilarious mostly because of what he wears (I'll say this. It never stopped being the 1980's in Jack Bennett's bedroom). Bojana Novakovic does a decent enough job as Emma. Emma isn't in the movie all that long, but she makes an impression anyway and she has good chemistry with Gibson (she really could be his distant daughter). Shawn Roberts' David Burnham gets shortchanged a bit (we really need to see what happens to his character, see it in motion, as opposed to the aftermath) but he's believable as a scared boyfriend. Damian Young is outstanding as Senator Jim Pine, one of the men who could be involved in the Northmoor matter. He makes the Senator a total sleazebag, the kind of guy you just want to see go down (his only two obvious convictions involve making money and obtaining and keeping power). And the great Dennis O'Hare is brilliantly sleazy as Moore, a government operative sent in to make sure nothing truly bad happens (I guess you could call him another kind of "fixer").

And then there's Jay O. Sanders as Whitehouse. I've been a big fan of Sanders since I saw him in "V.I. Warshawski" and I was excited to see him work with Mel Gibson, but Sanders' performance here is kind of lame. It's not Sanders' fault, though, as his character is just as underused as Winstone's Jedburgh. I also don't like how his character's fate is left dangling for you to guess at. Campbell could have handled Whitehouse much better.

I will say this, though. As a "Law & Order" fan, it is kind of cool to see so many former "Law & Order" guest stars in one movie. Go ahead and check out the flick's imdb page and look at how many "Law & Order" entries there are. It's like it's a dry run for a future "Law & Order" big screen movie.

So should you see "Edge of Darkness?" That's a tough call. Like I said at the beginning, the movie is never really all that boring, but it's never all that entertaining, either. It's too subdued for its own good and tries to be something other than what it should be. The movie needs more energy, more visceral excitement to break up the overly contemplative performance of Mel Gibson. It's fun and all to see Gibson back on the big screen, acting instead of directing, but the movie fails him. Gibson may be old but he's not dead. Seeing Gibson on the big screen again is ultimately the only real reason to make an effort to see "Edge of Darkness." If you're not that interested in Gibson to begin with, then you should wait for the DVD or HBO. You're likely to be more satisfied that way.

"Edge of Darkness" is okay. It's just nothing special.

So what do we have here? A subtle opening, gratuitous dead bodies floating in a river, gratuitous old home movies, gratuitous Mel Gibson, gratuitous Mel Gibson hanging out in a train station, gratuitous Mel Gibson rocking a Boston accent, barfing, a deer sculpture, gratuitous smooth jazz background music, gratuitous Mel Gibson trying to cook what appears to be asparagus, gratuitous ginger ale, blood barfing, a massively gross and cool shotgun blast to the chest, gratuitous Jay O. Sanders, face washing, Mel Gibson putting a bloody towel in a glass, gratuitous nightmares, gratuitous Mel Gibson riding around Boston and thinking about stuff, a sad morgue visit, gratuitous Mel Gibson kissing a dead body, multiple auditory hallucinations, public urination, gratuitous Mel Gibson spreading cremated ashes in the ocean, bag checking, a strange gun, lock picking, gratuitous Mel Gibson rocking a beige trench coat, a quick and brutal hand-to-hand fight, table breaking, gratuitous Geiger counter, gratuitous Ray Winstone, gratuitous Danny Huston, gratuitous political pictures on a table behind Danny Huston (I see George W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi, and what appears to be Rudy Giuliani), Mel Gibson burning stuff in a barrel, talking about "irradiated steam," gratuitous shot at the state of Massachusetts, attempted public restroom attack, window breaking, car jacking, gratuitous local Fox affiliate reporter, a fabulous hit-and-run followed by a wild flip, gratuitous Mel Gibson using a laptop, gratuitous Denis O'Hare, gratuitous Mel Gibson beating up an environmentalist, gratuitous shot at shell shock, face shaving, betrayal, taser to the chest, bullet to the head, multiple kill shots, a pretty decent stair stunt, a milk assault, bullet through the neck, and a somewhat satisfying ending followed by more heartfelt nonsense that isn't bad but why end it that way?

Best lines: "Let me know if you strike oil, okay?," "You're my girl," "Get me a ginger ale," "If you want to get philosophical we'll get philosophical," "Emma Craven's phone, hello?," "Turn that shit off!," "This is a cop thing, officer involved," "Leave her alone!," "You were right, I don't like him," "Why did you have a gun, honey?," "Coffee? I'll have a ginger ale," "You have interesting friends," "All of our people are very well insured," "What the fuck are you burning out there?," "You're a smart fucker," "Everything's illegal in Massachusetts," "What's it feel like, huh?," "Public drinking in Massachusetts is illegal," "I'm not walking into the dark with you," "What's that like, being no one in particular?," "Oh, by the way, thanks for not killing me," "I'm just a person, you know? Just a fucking person," "Go ahead. I'll keep you posted," "I love you, Dad," "You had better decide whether you're hanging' on the cross... or banging' in the nails,""Do you see a soul in there?," "These fuckers got automatic weapons," "Did you shoot my daughter?," "Say Craven!," "I'm sorry you had to see that, honey," "Deep down you know you deserve this," and "I've decided what this country is. Its people deserve better."

The 411: "Edge of Darkness" is a movie that's far too dour and contemplative than it needs to be. It's got Mel Gibson in it acting his age, but just because you're old doesn't mean you have to be slow and deliberate. It's got some decent performances in it, and, yeah, it has its moments, but it's not that great. It's not the must see you think it should be.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]