Review: Edge of Darkness
After a self-imposed seven-year hiatus, Mel Gibson returns to the screen as the lead in the thriller Edge of Darkness. The film's screenplay was written by William Monahan (Body of Lies, Kingdom of Heaven) and Andrew Bovell (Strictly Ballroom), but the real backbone of the plot comes from the BBC miniseries written by the late Troy Kennedy-Martin, who is best known for war classic Kelly's Heroes (1970) and The Italian Job (1969 and 2003 remake).
Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven (Gibson) should have seen enough violence and bloodshed to be desensitized after so many years on the force. When his 24-year-old daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is gunned down on the front steps of his house, the impact is devastating -- not only because Craven has lost his only child, but apparently he was the intended target. However, while trying to identify who would have wanted him dead, he discovers that he knows very little about his daughter. Why was she violently ill before her death, and carrying a gun for protection? He begans to uncover evidence that his daughter was more than just a "glorified intern." As a nuclear research assistant for military contractor Northmoor, she'd stumbled onto something sensitive enough to national security to have her flagged as a potential terrorist.
During his investigation, Craven crosses paths with secret government operative, Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), whose job is to clean up and hide any remaining evidence. Thrown into this mix of intrigue and conspiracies is Northmoor head Jack Bennett (Danny Huston), a senator (Damian Young) with his own political agenda and a national security advisor Millroy (David Aaron Baker) who doesn't want to get his hands dirty. Least of all, three environmental activists have gone missing after a mission to uncover the real truth about Northmoor activities.
Mel Gibson is well-cast in Edge of Darkness, not only because it's a good fit at this stage in his career but a solid script along with Martin Campbell's (Casino Royale) direction ensured Gibson hit the mark. I found Ray Winstone's accent and low voice a bit difficult to understand at times, which is a shame because the dialogues between Jedburgh and other characters contained some great moments. Danny Huston plays his villianous role so well during an exchange with Millroy I envisioned Bennett as Satan himself, creating and delivering dirty bombs to U.S. security like the apple in the garden of Eden.
What is striking about Edge of Darkness is that Craven does not go directly into and stay in "angry dad seeking revenge" mode. For someone who claims not to believe in post-traumatic stress syndrome, he is indeed shell-shocked and not able to see clearly enough at first to make sense of the facts. Eventually he does come around and it's time to seek revenge against the people responsible for his daughter's death. The action is well paced, although overall the film may seem to be a little uneven due to the intermittent sentimental scenes as Craven struggles with his grief. The sentimentality will succeed in connecting many female viewers that otherwise might not be into the revenge noir genre. For this reason along with the tight action scenes, I am definitely putting Edge of Darkness on the "good date movie" list, and will be seeking out the BBC miniseries for home viewing.