Edge of Darkness
Release Date: January 29th, 2010
Directed by Martin Campbell
Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
This is Mel Gibson's first leading role since being
arrested for drunk driving, an event during which Gibson uttered racist and
sexist comments at the arresting officers.
America loves giving celebrities second chances, but I wonder
if audiences will so easily forgive Gibson's anti-Semitic comments, and flock
to the theaters to throw down their ten dollars on this film.
With Edge of Darkness Gibson has chosen an interesting as his first
vehicle back in the public eye, that of a grieving father tracking down his
daughter's killer.
The film is set in Boston and sure enough Mel speaks
with a Bostonian accent, and I think I even detected a bit of his old Aussie
accent creeping in there too. This really worked for me until about halfway through
the film when I realized he sounded like an angry Jay Leno. I kept expecting
him to find and punch Conan O'Brien.
Ray Winstone plays a cleaner, a hitman of sorts who
'fixes' the loose ends other hitmen create. We've seen this type of character
before in La Femme Nikita, Pulp Fiction, and The Way of the Gun, and Winstone
really knocks it out of the part.
He is easily the best part of the movie, and his scenes with Gibson made me wish the film would have been more about them and less about the shady powers that be who may have had a hand in the death of Gibson's daughter.
The opening scenes are fantastic, and had me excited to
see where the movie went. Then the rest of the film unfolded, and it became
apparent I was on a wild goose chase. Edge of Darkness is the most
over-the-top, preposterous mess of a mystery I've seen in some time.
It's one thing if the Butler Did It, but it's asking a
lot of the audience to say The Butler Did It but he was working for the International
Butler Association, so They Did It, but they're in league with the secret US
Government Butler Board, so They Did It too. At one point Winstone's character
says his job is to make the story so convoluted people won't understand. It
seems they used that approach in making the movie as well.
Directed by Martin Campbell, who helmed Casino Royale
(the best of the James Bond films), Edge of Darkness starts with a bang but
ends with a whimper.
I don't mean to nitpick too much, but can Hollywood
please stop churning out movies with these silly titles that don't mean
anything? Edge of Darkness? What does that even mean? What does it tell you
about the story? I expected a character to reference the title in a hushed, serious
tone, something like "We're standing on the Edge of Darkness" but
that never happened. It's a forgettable, arbitrary title that will disappear
among the many like it once it hits the video shelf.
Tomorrow: Robots
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