Marketed as a knee-jerk revenge thriller/comeback vehicle for Mel Gibson, Edge of Darkness proves to be both smarter and thornier than advertised. Adapting the superb 1985 BBC miniseries, it boasts a twisty, steadily deepening plot, sturdy supporting turns by the likes of Ray Winstone and Danny Huston, and a script by The Departed‘s William Monahan that slathers on the profane Bahston wit.
Opening with a memorably grisly shot, the story follows a granite-willed Boston cop whose daughter comes between him and a shotgun-wielding hit man. Stricken with grief, he begins to implode, until a shadowy government fixer (Winstone) drops hints that he may not have been the target after all. And then the stain starts to spread, as it does in the best detective stories (most notably in the great Kiss Me Deadly, with which this film shares more than a few themes).
Martin Campbell, who directed the original miniseries before moving on to the likes of Casino Royale, continues to solidify his rep as one of the great unheralded action directors, propulsively moving the narrative forward with both a minimum of flash and a genuine air of sorrow. The main attraction, though, is Gibson, who sets aside most of his trademark charisma to reveal a core of pure wounded tenacity. (The film accentuates his newfound underdog status by pitting him against progressively taller and younger adversaries, until he weirdly starts to resemble a pit bull/Bob Hoskins.) With his matinee good looks diminished by age and who knows what else, Gibson is beginning to breathe the same rarefied craggy air of folks like Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Warren Oates: thousand-yard stares, the pain threshold of a fence post, and the potential to go nuclear at the slightest provocation. See the movie; stay off his lawn. 
Mel Gibson is a pimple on Lee Marvin’s ass.
Mel Gibson is a pimple on Lee Marvin’s ass.
Mel Gibson’s forehead looks like a Venetian blind. You’d think his god would fix that for him.
“I liken Mel to the old Hollywood stars like Robert Mitchum, Lee Marvin, William Holden, people like that, and we’ve got none of them now, do we? Everyone now is so lightweight. Even George Clooney, who is a terrific actor, he’s too polished. Mel has this masculine kind of emotional weight that others don’t. Possibly Russell Crowe, but he’s too young for this role. Eastwood is gone [from acting] and Harrison Ford, he’s got the grit, but he doesn’t have the menace or the power.” -Geoff Boucher, L.A. Times
@LidaRose – Thank goodness Mel is not another superficial, phony Hollywood plastic surgery casualty. IMHO, his weathered good looks just add charisma and gravitas to his visceral performance in “Edge of Darkness”. Welcome back, Mel!!!
Thanks for the candid review of Edge of Darkness. Also, thanks for not getting sidetracked and turning this review into another thinly veiled attempt to gratuitously bash Mel Gibson. So tired of all the hyperbolic condemnation and venom that continues to be spewed his way. Plan to see the movie tomorrow!
There’s a lot of pent up anger out there in Hollywood that finally found a pretext (Mel Gibson) to allow its release. Smells like the politics of personal destruction to me.
I made the mistake of paying to watch Harrison Ford sleepwalk through Extraordinary Measures last weekend (yawn). Gotta get my Mel adrenalin fix this weekend to counterbalance. 😉
huh… In none of those comparisons, you never did you bring up the most obvious- Clint Eastwood.