Teetering on the Edge of Salvation

Slow Moving Potboiler Provides Ample Entertainment
By Morgan P Salvo

Mel Gibson has been hiding behind the camera, producing and directing since 2002’s dreadful Signs, perhaps a wise choice since he spent equal time revealing weird religious philosophies and actively shocking us with his crazy off-screen persona. Enter Edge of Darkness, Gibson’s somewhat triumphant onscreen return in yet another Massachusetts crime thriller where you get to spend time checking out the authenticity of Boston accents. Good news is this one is not without its merits.
As it happens, the film is a remake; director Martin Campbell upgrades his 1985 British mini-series (which Campbell also directed) wherein a straight-laced father, an Inspector of the local police force, deals with the mysterious death of his activist daughter, and the murkiness of the British Nuclear Policy.
Here we get Tommy Craven (Gibson) a Boston detective, visited by longtime absent daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) who is brutally killed on his doorstep. Police assume the intended victim is Craven. Trouble is Craven had no real enemies (like that’s believable) so he goes out on his own to find out what happened and soon unravels a corporate cover up that involves his daughter. Then the race is on in typical rogue-hero-Gibson fashion to coerce or beat the info out of everyone in his path.
Unlike Payback or Ransom or even Conspiracy Theory, Edge of Darkness is not a rage-aholic flick. Despite Gibson’s history with revenge plots, Edge is actually more subtle, managing to keep our interest, if only to see if the top of Mel’s head will actually blow out from the temples.
The movie dwells on telling an old school story in an old school style and the clichés abound! There’s the hit man that has a few months to live, the cop willing to not arrest but even kill people for revenge, the activist subplot, the corrupt and evil senator, the unfeeling iniquitous CEO, the friend in the department that sells out his buddy, henchmen in black trench coats, squealers and an anonymous corrupt government agency that is also a hit squad.
Yet despite all this stereo typical mumbo jumbo there is something weirdly appealing about this movie. Edge is a throwback to talkative crime thrillers, a slow burner that sometimes lacks tension but contains enough action peppered with just the right amount of gratuitous violence. The flashbacks of better times with Emma and Craven’s talks with his daughter’s spirit felt annoying but stayed consistent revealing deeper meaning in the end.
As hokey as Darkness gets it’s still anchored by Gibson’s performance. Mel may be crazier than a shithouse rat, but when its “lights-camera-action” he’s all business. His features are much more creased and deeply wrinkled and although weary looking, he still can turn up the intense and grimace with the best. Also fun to watch is Ray Winstone as government operative Jedburgh, a “cleaner” of sorts. He likes to impose his wisdom in inopportune moments with a subtle wit and thick cockney accent. Danny Houston as the super-evil-corporate-conglomerate is sounding more like his dad every day. Think "just find the girl"
There are some minor irritants, like how everyone only plays vinyl records in movies, but there are some great some stop-me-if-you’ve-heard-this-before lines, including, “Chances are I’m already dead”, and the classic, “I’m the guy with nothing to lose and doesn’t give a shit”
But the best line of them all and due to all the Passion of the Christ controversy, this one will not go unnoticed, is when Craven utters advice to a shady politician, “You gotta decide if yer hanging by the cross or the one banging in the nails.” After eight years of seclusion at this point in Gibson’s career it looks like he’s decided which one he is.


Edge of Darkness
Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Jay O. Sanders, Bojana Novakovic
Directed by Martin Campbell
 2 1/2 stars