Edge of Darkness: Critic Reviews

As compressed and updated by screenwriters William Monahan and Andrew Bovell, it's just a conventional, divertingly propulsive, borderline boilerplate corporate-high-jinks thriller.

Edge of Darkness is reasonably well executed, but its competence reeks of fatigue. Another dead kid. Another angry dad. Another day at the office.

The film takes the revelations and twists at a hectic gallop, though it omits the spiritual, Gaia-is-angry mysticism of the original. It's not too bad, though it lacks the style of the recent film version of State of Play.

Not only is Edge of Darkness Gibson's best work in a decade -- a big improvement over such drivel as What Women Want -- it is a well-crafted thriller.

There's nothing especially edgy or dark, or darkly edgy, or even particularly twilit about Edge of Darkness, at least as thrillers go.

A long, complicated affair that has its moments but suffers from an overwrought plot.

Gibson hasn't had a starring role in seven years, but he has no trouble returning to work. That he looks a little wearier, and a lot older, simply adds to his character's pathos.

Mr. Gibson's performance is certainly intense, but the gleeful energy he once brought to such hits as Lethal Weapon -- or even to Conspiracy Theory, an excellent flop -- has turned toxic, and his somber scourge is no fun at all.

The plotline... is so convoluted, it goes way past silliness; the big reveals are obvious, and by the time they come to fruition, suspense has long since leaked away.

Edge of Darkness is a meathead revenge picture, but it's very satisfying.

I liked the pace and the pulse of the film, but it launches no genuine surprise and, despite being irradiated with scenes of sickness and morbid one-liners, has little afterglow.

Gibson is a credible, attractive hero, as he has always been, so if you want fast-food action, here's your movie.

Kill someone's only child, and what do you have? You have a righteous avenger role almost too well-suited for Gibson's persona.

A conspiracy that extends to the highest levels of tedium and confusion.

The pace is languorous, the volume (with the exception of three or four jolting episodes of violence) low, the lighting dim and grim.

Is this a drama about a father's loss? No. Is this a political thriller? Maybe, but a good thriller should consistently surprise the viewer. The movie's revelations are met with a resounding "duh."

The only edge here is in the title. This is indeed your father's thriller.

The film depends on Gibson's performance, and he comes through.

Mel Gibson desperately needs a good movie. His fans need to see him in one. I am sorry to report that Edge of Darkness is not it.

Campbell's topnotch production team yields predictably polished results, but the director's decision to revisit the late Troy Kennedy Martin's teleplay, finally, feels lacking.

Campbell and his cinematographer, Phil Meheux, create a pervasive sense of dread, with danger lurking around every corner of Boston and its environs.

Gibson tries on a Boston accent (it needs work) and boringly underplays his character before the inevitable "Mad Mel" makes his appearance in the third act.

No longer quite so movie star handsome, Gibson's deeply lined features and thinning mane complement a performance that is finely tuned and textured -- mournful, cunning, determined and explosive with rage.

Edge of Darkness is offered as a political thriller, but with real-world politics removed. What we're left with is a familiar mechanism for delivering a vicarious, violent, wish-fulfilment fantasy.

Gibson's character here is a man crazed with grief. But it looks as if Gibson is just using that as an excuse to act crazy, period.