Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness

We get to see Mel Gibson run around behaving badly, punching people and yelling in this movie…just like in real life.  Except, in this movie he has a reason to act like an asshole, because someone brutally murdered his daughter right in front of him.  His character, a police detective, goes after the answers behind his daughter’s murder.  And, we don’t have to hear minutes of him breathing heavily on the phone. 

Edge of Darkness is a brutally violent and dark film that will make you uncomfortable with of the death scenes.  EOD is a remake of a British miniseries from the 80s.  Martin Campbell directed both the miniseries and the American remake.  Campbell’s directing is sharp and his editing is fairly quick for a conspiracy driven movie. 

Spoiler:  It should be noted that many of the people that reveal secrets to Gibson’s character end up in bad places.  One person has something really awful happen to them other than death.  No one comes out unscathed and I mean no one. 

Mel Gibson is in top form here as a distraught father that just witnessed his daughter shot-gunned down right in front of him.  Yet, there is a warmth sensibility to his character whenever we see him talking to his daughter at the beginning or another other young person.  It is real shame the real Mel Gibson isn’t more like some of the early attributes we see in the movie. 

I also enjoyed the score by Howard Shore, which is interesting because he had to write a replacement score after re-shoots, because the producers dropped the original composer.

If I had one negative thing to say about the movie is that it tries to be a little too preachy with some of its moral messages.  You’ll start to say, “We get it; big companies are evil.”  But, the message doesn’t hit you over the head.  And, these people are truly bad people. 

Edge of Darkness is a dark and gritty drama that has some good moments throughout with a compelling Gibson performance.  There are a few minor problems with the script, but don’t let that stop you from watching the movie.

Grade:  B+

 “Oh, honey, it’s that crazy actor from those Lethal Weapon movies at the door.”