Movie Review: Edge of Darkness (2010)
Gibson's daughter is dead and conspiracy is afoot
Photo: Warner Bros.
If you were looking for Edge of Darkness to be as entertaining as last year's vengeful father thriller Taken you will be sorely disappointed. Surely that was the goal for Warner Bros. as it aims to take advantage of the exact same release date that earned Taken nearly $150 million at last year's domestic box-office. However, WB shouldn't be on the lookout for a similar return as the "from the director of Casino Royale" tagline and what's left of Mel Gibson's star power is sure to only grant this film a modest opening weekend as word-of-mouth won't be strong.
Written by the same man that turned the Hong Kong thriller "Infernal Affairs" into the Boston area crime drama The Departed, William Monahan, this time, adapts the 1985 BBC miniseries of the same name into another Boston adventure and while the accents are over-cooked and obvious so are the mundane plot twists.
The cast includes Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Shawn Roberts, Bojana Novakovic and Frank Grillo. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Edge of Darkness" is a Warner Bros. release, directed by Martin Campbell and is rated R for strong bloody violence and language. The running time is 1 hour 57 minutes.
Edge of Darkness is a film filled with sinister villains that may as well be wearing signs around their neck that say "Bad Guy" on them they are so obvious. As if the mere casting of Danny Huston as C.E.O. of the mysterious Northmoor corporation wasn't enough, Damian Young playing the sinister Senator Pine looks a lot like Jim Carrey in Lemony Snicket. All he needed was a white cat to complete the ensemble.
Gibson, too, wasn't all that impressive as I often wondered if he was trying to audition for a role in the Farrelly brothers' The Three Stooges or if he was just over-selling the accent. My guess is the latter, but you never know considering his frequent Stooges imitations in the Lethal Weapon series. Boop, boop, boop. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
Every move of this thing is telegraphed and while Mel investigates, if you aren't willing to talk he's likely to bash your face in. Occasionally he'll only ask a name before smashing some guy in the nose and taking him for a tumble down a hill. Edge of Darkness is a beat-'em-over-the-head thriller that's trying way too hard to be smart and comes off just plain dumb. It's a film ripe for an episode of "Mystery Science Theater" as a laugh track would have made the third act more tolerable.
Director Martin Campbell has proven over time he can churn out a good actioner as evidenced by Casino Royale, GoldenEye (sort of) and Mask of Zorro, but this film just sits there — lifeless from the start to the point you begin questioning each scene rather than absorbing them. Such as how did that car know when she was going to open that door? Why didn't they just kill him in the first place? Lord knows had they shot both Thomas and Emma in the opening act the audience would have been saved from the tedium that followed.
Links from Other Sites You May Like
Showing 8 Comments
~ PLEASE NOTE ~
If, in any way, your comment is an attack on the author of this post or a previous commenter, your comment will be deleted without question.
Add a New Comment |
Click to Read Our Commenting Rules & Guidelines
LMAO!
Nice review!
"It's a film ripe for an episode of "Mystery Science Theater" as a laugh track would have made the third act more tolerable."
Well, there's Rifftrax. Perhaps when this movie comes out on DVD they'll riff it.
Thanks. Was planning on going to see this tonight before I read yours and Ebert's reviews. Think I will save my money now
I saw this at a screener and I loved it. I honestly thought it was alot of fun. It felt like a classic Mel Gibson movie to me. Not trying to contradict your review but I wanted offer another opinion. I'd say give it a chance. Kinda confused about the negative reviews.
As someone who loved the TV series on which this is based I was always dubious about this being workable as a film – especially being transplanted to the US and updated. I was even more dubous when I heard the Mel Gibson was playing the lead role. The trailor gave me no hope and now your review has buried this for me. Might check it out cable eventually
Im seein it 2nit so ill tell you how it is
Well I liked it. It was pretty good, decent. I give it a solid B.
Yes it was a little slow and boring mainly because I was wanting some more action or just some suspense know what I mean? So I was really excited and was slightly disappointed but I still enjoyed it. But haha you did get me thinking about that scene where she was hit by that car. I liked Mel Gibson in the film but Ray Winstone was just whatever. And some of the action scenes were filmed a little poorly but whatever. I enjoyed your review which really got me thinking.
I actually agree to a point with the review except for one aspect in particular; the accent. I don't think he overdid it at all. In fact this film was all about Gibson. The story was typical and jumpy. Mel Gibson's passionate performance made this film watchable (not to mention Ray Winstone's scenes which were too few). Loved the accent. I found it to be perfect.