Mel on Fire – ‘Edge of Darkness’ Review

Posted on February 2, 2010 - 7:53am by michael There are generally not a lot of variations of the revenge movie, particularly the kind about the tough guy out to get revenge for the death/kidnapping or whatever of his kid. Mel Gibson already did it in 1996 with Ransom and I don’t have many complaints to lodge about that one. I think Edge of Darkness is a nice return to form for Mel. He’s best in gritty action movies and this is the first one he’s since Payback a decade ago. Gibson’s latest effort is slow and plodding at some points, and it has too much emotional setup designed to drive the vengeance that takes up the second half of the film, but there are some unexpected and very interesting plot twists in the last act that make it memorable. Movies about avenging fathers or brothers or cheuffers or whatnot generally come with mixed results. Denzel Washington did it in Man on Fire and the result was not good. Mark Wahlberg did it in Max Payne and the result was not good, but not bad either. And of course, we can’t forget that Arnold Schwarzenegger did it in Commando and the result was totally freaking awesome. I doubt that Edge of Darkness will have the staying power of Commando, but as a definitely styled Mel Gibson action movie, it certainly delivers on the expectations. So Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a veteran homicide detective. This is really the perfect job for him, because homicide detectives are generally not allowed to participate in investigations of the murders of their own family members. Emotional involvement can really cloud your judgment, that kind of thing. So when his daughter Emma (my own sister’s name, as it were) is gunned down on his front porch, [caption id="attachment_70085" align="alignleft" width="365" caption="Never trust a man who has an office with a view like this."][/caption] he has no choice but to set off on his own investigation, as guys tend to do in movies like this. Before long he learns that his daughter may have been killed because of her attempts to blow the whistle on a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Emma is played by Serbian actress Bojana Novakovic, a talented actress who doesn’t seem to have yet seen the recognition she deserves. She’s been acting for just over a decade but not really in anything memorable. You might remember her as the daughter of the scary old lady in Drag Me To Hell. Interesting that still here, she is in a major production with one of the most famous movie stars in the world, and still spends most of the movie dead. Too bad. Danny Huston plays Jack Bennett, the president of a shady corporation that Emma was working for. You know he can’t be trusted because his name’s Jack and he’s played by Danny Huston. And did I mention his office? The movie was directed by Martin Campbell, who also brought us things like two Zorro movies with Antonio Banderas as well as GoldenEye and Casino Royale, two of the best James Bond films, in my humble opinion. Here is a guy who knows his actions movies. Campbell’s directing chops are helped along by the screenwriting talents of William Monahan, writer of The Departed and Body of Lies, and Andrew Bovell, who hasn’t really written anything of note but who now has some brilliant colleagues. Bottom line, if you’re a fan of Mel Gibson and action movies in general you’re sure to have a good time. It gets a little sappy at a few points as scenes of Craven dealing with the loss of his daughter are stretched just a little too far. We get that he’s bummed, but the movie doesn’t balance the slow scenes too well so it drags occasionally. But once Mel gets his investigation going, it’s an interesting story with some cool twists at the end, and as always it’s great to watch Gibson distributing whoop-ass to those that deserve it! The Bean Meter