The previews for “Edge of Darkness” suggest that Mel Gibson’s latest movie is an actioner similar to “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson. The only similarity is both movies have grieving fathers. Gibson’s Tom Craven does take some vigilante justice, but this is more of a detective movie with portions of the film getting bogged down with a complicated plot involving an energy corporation cover-up, a corrupt government and nuclear weapons. When the movie opens, Tom Craven, a Boston cop, welcomes home his daughter Emma (Bojana Navakovic) for a visit. Soon she is vomiting and suffering nosebleeds. When Tom decides to take her to the hospital, a masked man shoots her as they step onto the porch. Boston PD believes Tom was the target, but Tom disagrees and begins his own investigation. He discovers that Emma was trying to blow the whistle on some shenanigans at her work. Things get more complicated with the appearance of Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a man who operates in the shadows and warns Craven that men in high places often call on him to fix things. You’re kept guessing about Jedburgh’s allegiance until the end of the film.
“Edge of Darkness” isn’t a great film, but engrossing enough thanks to strong performances by Gibson and Winstone. Unfortunately, when the script isn’t creating confusion, it’s being predictable, filled with moments in which you know someone who has just given Craven a bit of information is going to end up dead. “Edge of Darkness” is a satisfying revenge fantasy: the cop gets the bad guys. But you know that going in. 1/29/10
1 comment:
"Edge of Darkness" was a somewhat enjoyable film with a complicated "good guy, bad guy" plot. Mel Gibson's character was allowed to break as many laws as he wanted to because he was the victim of a "big-business" scheme to cover up their bad deeds. There has been a lot of films lately condemning American businesses of high crimes and dastardly acts. That is an unhealthy trend in my opinion.
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