Edge of Darkness: Review By Fallenlords

In general terms this is a political thriller. A Boston police officer Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) sees his daughter gunned down in front of him. Everybody starts off with the assumption the fatal shot was meant for him, revenge for something in his past - an old case. As he investigates his daughters death he starts to uncover a conspiracy that reaches right to the top of the political world.

In terms of performance I thought Mel Gibson played his part better than expected, after such a long absence in front of the camera. He came across as a no-nonsense, hard-hitting but intelligent police officer. It makes a nice change to see intelligence, as so many times characters are dumbed down to help the plot along. Edge of Darkness moves at a reasonable pace and some of the action scenes are done extremely well. In fact their are some moments in the film where the main character actually outsmarts people, which I found highly enjoyable. There was the odd 'shock and awe moment' that also takes your breath away but these moments were not over-done so they came across as quite refreshing within the context of the film as a whole. This is a reasonable thriller but it doesn't tax your grey matter too much which means it should appeal to action fans as well, as there is a good dollop of action. To be a 'grade A' thriller this would need a few more twists/turns and some events that throw you off balance. It doesn't happen in Edge of Darkness, what you see is pretty much what you get. Which isn't a bad thing by any means, in fact perhaps one of the saving graces for the film is they didn't try to over complicate the plot.

My main annoyance with this film was the flashback moments between Craven and his daughter. I understand why they were there, to show the bond between father and daughter .... but it got a little tedious. When he starts talking to his 'dead' daughter it stretched things a little too far. Obviously she was the motivating factor behind his investigation and his search for justice, but talking to his daughter as if she was alive gave him a kind of 'psycho' feel and quite frankly the film didn't need it at all. It came across to me as padding to stretch things out.

The character Jedburgh, played by Ray Winstone, as the sort of 'fixer' did not come together to me at all. I understood why he was there but he didn't do a great deal, at least not until the end of the film. Again you understand the reasons to an extent but it is not very clear about his motives. Ray Winstone also has a tendency to mumble, especially when he is trying to do accents. This was no exception and I am sure I missed the odd thing that was probably important because of the mumbling.

This film has been adapted from an award winning BBC drama, though they have made changes so it is not exactly the same. Being based on a BBC drama might be a plus point for some, but for me I always find BBC drama slightly washed out. As if they try to appeal to a mass audience at a certain time of day (being TV) and don't want to push things too far. I think this crept into the film, I thought it could of been harder hitting in some respects. There were also certain plot holes that didn't make a great deal of sense if you questioned them. Things you might get away with in a TV series but seem to stand out in a film. Thankfully none were that important to the overall film or glaringly obvious. But if you like Thrillers as a whole then everything needs to add up and it didn't.

There have been comparisons with this film with regard to Taken, this is nothing like that at all. Taken was action all the way, this is a thriller which contains action. Totally different in my book and your expectations have to match the type of film.

This was a good thriller with a fair amount of action. It has decent acting, good plot, good supporting cast, it is well edited and directed. Overall an enjoyable film but not without the odd problem.