{"id":6058,"date":"2024-10-15T00:07:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6058"},"modified":"2024-10-15T00:07:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T04:07:45","slug":"edge-of-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/15\/edge-of-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Edge of Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Edge of Darkness <\/strong>(2010)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 117 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Martin Campbell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: William Monahan and Andrew Bovell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Howard Shore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Phil Meheux \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: January 29, 2010 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Shawn Roberts, David Aaron Baker, Jay O. Sanders, Denis O\u2019Hare, Damian Young, Caterina Scorsone, Frank Grillo, Peter Epstein, Wayne Duvall, Gbenga Akinnagbe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $43.3M (US)\/$81.1M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s no secret how I feel about older movies versus newer ones. I never tried to hide it. I\u2019ve become cynical and jaded about what Hollywood has to offer these days. I\u2019ve had it with the lame megabudget CGI noisefests, unfunny comedies and tepid PG-13 horror flicks. Most of the movies that play multiplexes leave me feeling empty and unsatisfied. That even applies to the good ones. They\u2019re just so hollow compared to the movies of the 70s, 80s and 90s. As a lifelong movie lover, I never dreamed I\u2019d reach this point, but here we are.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Once in a while, I see one that I like a lot. The conspiracy thriller Edge of Darkness<\/strong> is one such title. I dug it when it came out ten years ago and still dig it now. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) directs this remake of his own BBC miniseries. Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon 1-4) stars as Thomas Craven, a man who has spent years as a detective in Boston. When his daughter Emma (Novakovic, Drag Me to Hell) is killed near the door of his home, he soon realizes that her death is only one piece of a puzzle filled with corruption and conspiracy. It falls to him to discover who is behind the crime.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Craven\u2019s joy over his daughter\u2019s visit ends abruptly when a masked gunman shoots her dead in front of him. At first, he assumes the bullet was meant for him. He figures it has to be somebody he arrested and put away out for revenge. Then he finds a handgun belonging to Emma\u2019s boyfriend (Roberts, Diary of the Dead) in her purse. The boyfriend, in fear for his life if he talks, points him towards her workplace, a shady research and development facility called Northmoor run by sinister corporate type Jack Bennett (Huston, The Aviator). He tries to assure Craven they\u2019re on the up and up, but it\u2019s obvious he\u2019s hiding something. I\u2019ll only say that it\u2019s a high-reaching conspiracy involving a powerful senator (Young, House of Cards) and Emma found out about it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The wild card in all this is a mysterious chap named Jedburgh (Winstone, Sexy Beast), a \u201cconsultant\u201d sent to tie up the loose ends resulting from Emma\u2019s murder. Only he\u2019s not interested in killing Craven. Instead, he leaves him to conduct his investigation into Northmoor. A hitman with a conscience is usually a standard-issue character, but not in the hands of Winstone who makes him the movie\u2019s most fascinating character. His interactions with Gibson\u2019s character provide Edge of Darkness<\/strong> with some of its best scenes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The two complaints I hear most frequently about Edge of Darkness<\/strong> are (1) it\u2019s too slow and (2) it\u2019s not as good as the original miniseries. I can\u2019t speak to number two as I\u2019ve never seen the 1985 version starring Bob Peck (Jurassic Park). As for it being slow, I\u2019ll grant that it\u2019s not likely to please viewers looking for Lethal Weapon-type action. It\u2019s more talk than action as Gibson\u2019s character attempts to untangle the web of conspiracy that led to his daughter\u2019s murder. Despite the frequent expository dialogue, it\u2019s not easy to follow what Northmoor is really up to. It\u2019s explained in too convoluted a manner, but it\u2019s not entirely incomprehensible either. When you can finally put it all together, it\u2019s rather simple and obvious.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Gibson delivers an edgy performance as the increasingly paranoid Craven, a good cop out to avenge his daughter, the only family he had (there\u2019s no mention of the wife\/mother). He has good reason to be paranoid too. He\u2019s being followed by men in black suits driving a black SUV with darkened windows. I\u2019ll say this much, they\u2019re not trying to sell him Amway. I know Gibson\u2019s had a lot of personal problems since his days as a big box office draw, but it hasn\u2019t affected his acting abilities. He\u2019s still a solid leading man. Huston channels his late father\u2019s villainous performance in Chinatown as the head of the big evil corporation that sits atop a tall hill visible for miles around. It\u2019s like something out of a James Bond movie which makes sense since Campbell helmed two 007 movies- Goldeneye and Casino Royale.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written by Oscar winner William Monahan (The Departed) and Andrew Bovell (Lantana), Edge of Darkness<\/strong> is a stylish, suspenseful thriller with a few well-mounted action scenes scattered throughout including one scene of sudden violence that will make you jump. The narrative is a bit messy, but I\u2019m willing to overlook it. This movie is positively gripping even if it does lag in parts. It also has a few predictable plot points like the secondary character you know right away is a turncoat. Hey, I never said Edge of Darkness<\/strong> was perfect. It has flaws I\u2019m willing to excuse because it kept me on the edge of my seat. More than that, it makes me want to hunt down the original Brit-made miniseries.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edge of Darkness (2010)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 117 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violence and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Martin Campbell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: William Monahan and Andrew Bovell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Howard Shore\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Phil Meheux \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: January 29, 2010 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Shawn Roberts, David Aaron Baker, Jay O. Sanders, Denis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Edge-of-Darkness-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6223,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6058\/revisions\/6223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}