Edge of Darkness

Released: 2010
MPAA rating: R
Run time:  1:57

Mel Gibson returns in front of the cameras as Thomas Craven, a Boston detective whose daughter is murdered right in front of him on his front porch.  Initially, it is assumed that he is the intended target of the hit, but as he begins to look into her work, he finds she had some secrets that may have put her directly in harm's way.  He is visited by a mysterious man named Jedburgh (Ray Winstone, who nearly steals the movie and is swiftly becoming one of my favorite character actors).  Jedburgh is sort of involved with the bad guys, but also seems to want to help Craven blow the cover off the conspiracy.  Craven methodically moves through his daughter's contacts to get a sense of what she did for a living and how that ties into her death.  There is also a subtext where Craven sees and hears his daughter at different points, giving it a bit of a "The Lovely Bones" angle.  This is a movie that suffers because of its trailer on two levels:  On one, the trailer serves as a Cliffs Notes version of the movie itself, moving linearly through the storyline making you think you barely need to see the movie itself.  On the other level, it portrays the film as a big-time action movie, much like "Taken", but it is much more of a mystery investigation than an action movie.  Recently on "Saturday Night Live", they spoofed Mel Gibson doing an interview about this movie and the interviewers comparing it to many of his other films.  While this is somewhat accurate, this type of movie is what Gibson does best and it is a pleasure to see him doing it again. I feared it would be sort of a silly film. but it was better than expected.  It also featured a lead villain who had possibly the coolest office I've ever seen, reminiscent of the lairs of James Bond villains.

Grade: B-

Trailer: