.jpg)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Posted on 2:38 PM by Paolo
'Edge of Darkness' Review
By Paolo Sardinas
It's been seven years since Mel Gibson last acted in a film. Within his seven year hiatus he directed the hugely controversial "The Passion of the Christ" and the thriller centering around the Mayans "Apocalypto". His return to the big screen charts familiar territory; its a revenge thriller. Now The thing with revenge thrillers is that, for the most part, they are simplistic little films. They follow their own formulas and time and time again just about every one of them falls flat to that same formula. Martin Campbell's latest action flick centers around corporate conspiracies and the tale of one man's revenge. While Edge of Darkness doesn't do much to get away from that common formula it does offer some suspenseful moments, most of which are well done, and delivers a long awaited return to the screen by Mel Gibson.
"Edge of Darkness" starts with former Boston detective Tom Craven (Mel Gibson) getting a much awaited visit from his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic). Throughout the entire film's opening minutes we automatically get the sense that something is wrong. Aside from the vomiting of green vomit Emma seems distraught and something is definitely wrong. As they make their way to the doctor's office Emma is gunned down on Tom's front porch by an unknown assailant. Initially the media believes that it was a hit targeted towards him but it turns out there is something else at play. Emma worked for a nuclear research corporation named Northmoor who has various shady operations and government contracts. Tom believes they had something to do with his daughter's death, so he sets off to investigate the murder and eventually discovers a corporate conspiracy.
Tom gets some help from and equally shady cleaner from the US government named Darius Jedburgh. Originally the role was supposed to be played by Robert De Niro but Ray Winstone does a fairly good job. He travels the state of Massachusetts looking for answers and the truth. Be the movie doesn't lag as it offers sporadic moments of violence to keep things moving along and prevents the film from becoming one overly long and redundant film.
Gibson's last on screen performance was the 2002 cheeky sci-fi thriller Signs. But in this film Gibson proves he hasn't lost his talent. He seems to have aged quite a bit since the last time we saw him in front of the camera but his aged and almost scarred face helps to bring the character of an enraged but deeply vengeful father to life. His believability as the mourning father can be felt but he never over does it. Gibson injects the right amount of tension an emotion to the role to help guide the film along. He also dons a native Boston accent which, from my understanding, sounds quite original and believable. During the action scenes we get Gibson doing what Gibson does best, kicking ass. But none of it is delivered in a pop-corn ridiculousness that we are so used to seeing nowadays.
The rest if supporting cast, along with Gibson, help to bring the film to life. Winstone does equally as good in hat role about the corporate cleaner. A British man whose outlook on life is about as dark as his black jacket. A man whose equally as charming as he is dark and mysterious. Danny Huston stars alongside the two powerhouse actors as the film's main baddie. He, while it may not be his best performance, does remarkable well. Novakovic isn't in the film for a very long time so she doesn't exactly leave a lasting impressions but all in all the actors do a fine job.
Based off of the original British mini-seris starring Bob Peck created in the 80's, the film follows its original material faithfully, to a point. Its common knowledge that adapting a six hour along mini-series into an almost two hour along movie doesn't always end up so well. Mainly because of the fact that its four hours less of time that you have to expand on things. This is the most flawed area of the film. The story and structure. While the film stars out fairly good the rest of it always feels like its missing something. Frankly I would of enjoyed seeing this movie run a little bit longer and actually extend some of its scenes. The adaptation was written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. Monohan penned Scorsese's Oscar winning "The Departed" and returns hear with some Bostonian touches to the film's plot.
Campbell, who also directed the extremely well made re-boot to the James Bond franchise Casino Royale directs Edge of Darkness with a short but strong punch. He never lets the film fall victim to some of the genre's overly used cliches and common errors but he never quite perfects what could of been more of an emotional film. Most of which comes from Gibson's performance. Nonetheless Campbell gives this genre just what it needed, something that is a bit different and isn't your typical political thriller. While it may not be the perfect film for Gibson's comeback to the screen its definitely a step towards that goal. Edge of Darkness may not be perfect but its definitely an enthralling film, you know, the kind we don't really get anymore
Grade: B
"Edge of Darkness" starts with former Boston detective Tom Craven (Mel Gibson) getting a much awaited visit from his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic). Throughout the entire film's opening minutes we automatically get the sense that something is wrong. Aside from the vomiting of green vomit Emma seems distraught and something is definitely wrong. As they make their way to the doctor's office Emma is gunned down on Tom's front porch by an unknown assailant. Initially the media believes that it was a hit targeted towards him but it turns out there is something else at play. Emma worked for a nuclear research corporation named Northmoor who has various shady operations and government contracts. Tom believes they had something to do with his daughter's death, so he sets off to investigate the murder and eventually discovers a corporate conspiracy.
Tom gets some help from and equally shady cleaner from the US government named Darius Jedburgh. Originally the role was supposed to be played by Robert De Niro but Ray Winstone does a fairly good job. He travels the state of Massachusetts looking for answers and the truth. Be the movie doesn't lag as it offers sporadic moments of violence to keep things moving along and prevents the film from becoming one overly long and redundant film.
Gibson's last on screen performance was the 2002 cheeky sci-fi thriller Signs. But in this film Gibson proves he hasn't lost his talent. He seems to have aged quite a bit since the last time we saw him in front of the camera but his aged and almost scarred face helps to bring the character of an enraged but deeply vengeful father to life. His believability as the mourning father can be felt but he never over does it. Gibson injects the right amount of tension an emotion to the role to help guide the film along. He also dons a native Boston accent which, from my understanding, sounds quite original and believable. During the action scenes we get Gibson doing what Gibson does best, kicking ass. But none of it is delivered in a pop-corn ridiculousness that we are so used to seeing nowadays.
The rest if supporting cast, along with Gibson, help to bring the film to life. Winstone does equally as good in hat role about the corporate cleaner. A British man whose outlook on life is about as dark as his black jacket. A man whose equally as charming as he is dark and mysterious. Danny Huston stars alongside the two powerhouse actors as the film's main baddie. He, while it may not be his best performance, does remarkable well. Novakovic isn't in the film for a very long time so she doesn't exactly leave a lasting impressions but all in all the actors do a fine job.
Based off of the original British mini-seris starring Bob Peck created in the 80's, the film follows its original material faithfully, to a point. Its common knowledge that adapting a six hour along mini-series into an almost two hour along movie doesn't always end up so well. Mainly because of the fact that its four hours less of time that you have to expand on things. This is the most flawed area of the film. The story and structure. While the film stars out fairly good the rest of it always feels like its missing something. Frankly I would of enjoyed seeing this movie run a little bit longer and actually extend some of its scenes. The adaptation was written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. Monohan penned Scorsese's Oscar winning "The Departed" and returns hear with some Bostonian touches to the film's plot.
Campbell, who also directed the extremely well made re-boot to the James Bond franchise Casino Royale directs Edge of Darkness with a short but strong punch. He never lets the film fall victim to some of the genre's overly used cliches and common errors but he never quite perfects what could of been more of an emotional film. Most of which comes from Gibson's performance. Nonetheless Campbell gives this genre just what it needed, something that is a bit different and isn't your typical political thriller. While it may not be the perfect film for Gibson's comeback to the screen its definitely a step towards that goal. Edge of Darkness may not be perfect but its definitely an enthralling film, you know, the kind we don't really get anymore
Grade: B
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No Response to "Edge of Darkness (2010)"
Post a Comment