Review of Edge of Darkness (2010) by Temur N — 13 Dec 2010

Another emotionally charged revenge flick featuring an ageing Mel Gibson searching through his daughter's past to find out why she was killed.

As most people will point out, this is no Lethal Weapon. Though there are moments of violence and gun fire, the general pace of the film was actually kind of slow in many places. Between Gibson coming close to a mental breakdown because of his recent loss and him going from suspect to suspect and either begging them for their help or flat out threatening them, the story kind of becomes convoluted. Plus, I don't know if it was the sound editing or the deep Boston accent/lingo, but I swear half the time I couldn't understand what was being said. Even though I should have been able to piece together what the big conspiracy was about in the same time as Gibson, I had to wait for a recording of his daughter clearly explaining what it was before I was able to catch up.

One thing that does make this film watchable are the random acts of supreme violence that are peppered throught the whole thing - when Gibson's daighter got blown away I literally flinched, ity was that powerful. As we get to the last 20 minutes, then all hell breaks loose which I have to admit raised this film quite a bit for me.

Another decent additon is Ray Winstone, who's highly classified existence gives him the power to treat anyone he likes like a piece of sh*t. You can tell by the quiet confidence his character splendidly demonstrates, that he has seen and done things that given him a unique overview of life. He plays off Gibson superbly, the viewer never knows if Winstone truly likes Gibson or if he's just looking for an excuse to shoot him.

Overall I would say this film is definately worth at least one watch as it does have decent story to tell...plus it's always refreshing to see Mel blow someone's brains out with a handgun.