GameOn Forums - Friendly Gamers - Edge of Darkness (2010)

Greg once again delivers the goods, as he delves into the latest Mel Gibson movie, Edge of Darkness. Will it get a thumbs up or a thumbs down? There is only one way to find out... Click!

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Edge of Darkness
a review by Greg Arganda

Martin Campbell can make homicide oh so appealing on camera, just look at Goldeneye and Casino Royale for example which glorifies death via the super spy James Bond. This movie no different, starring Mel Gibson as Craven, one bad mother fucking detective who witnesses the assassination of his daughter on the front porch. Shocking as it may be, Craven gets right back into his detective mode to hunt down his daughter's killer by any means necessary. He makes it quite clear that his intentions are to "not arrest anyone," aw gee wizz Mr Gibson, then what are you going to use that gun for?

What I liked about this movie is Mel Gibson himself, he fits right into this character like a hand in a glove. He gets really into the sad scenes where he remembers his daughter and even starts hearing her voice in his head so you can truly feel his despair. His facial expressions and body language emanate the deepest reaches of his shattered soul perfectly, this is a man who has felt the loss of a human being close to him. Another thing that I like about his character is how fearsome he is, every person he interrogates is someone he puts the "fear of god" into. To me I couldn't stop thinking "this reminds me of Batman saying he uses his own fear on his enemies to control it" and Gibson controlled that ass good! Gibson is a pure savage in this movie, this role was meant for him.

Now where the fun begins, Caterina Scorsone playing as Melissa who is Gibson's daughter's friend plays the part of a whistle blower on the murder cover up going on. She plays the part of a terrified squirrel excellently but the part of a human in a Hollywood movie horribly, at any moment she could poop herself in nervousness. Her character is so unnerving that it is hard to watch her at all. I don't think I have seen a person strung out on crack cocaine with more tweak in her character than Caterina Whogivesafuck? Her character sucks and she pisses me off, onto the next thing I disliked about this movie.

Ray Winstone plays Jedburgh, a man of questionable morality who talks to Craven in all kinds of mysterious ways. It appears he is a hit man, but he never says "I will kill you" or "help you," he is simply a flip flopping unsure of himself character with a cool demeanor. These scenes with him just seem out of place, sitting at the Boston Harbor drinking wine and talking to Craven. Interchanging information about Craven's daughter's death and small talk about nothing important. His character just seems to be a time filler in between the gaps of action. His character is simply confusing and seems like a cool idea when written down "the hit man with a heart" like Leon, but not like Leon because Leon actually fucking did something!

Next kind of bothersome thing about this movie is the bad guys who within the first 15 minutes you will be able to figure out if you haven't had a frontal lobotomy. They might as well put a sticker on the bad guy's head saying "Yeah I had something to do with your daughter's death," it takes the mystery out of everything and this is a film all about Mel Gibson trying to solve the mystery of his daughter's death. Thinking about this problem too much is not a good thing because it makes you question "what is the point of this being a thrilling murder mystery when there is no mystery as to who committed the murder in the first place."