Edge of Darkness
2010
***
Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Jay O. Sanders, Shawn Roberts, Gbenga Akinnagbe
This is an adaptation of the excellent 1985 British miniseries, which was written by Troy Kennedy Martin. The action is transferred to Boston, where a detective's daughter is gunned down in front of his house. The immediate reaction is that the killer was after him, but it turns out that she was the target due to her work at the secretive Northmoor research facility. Martin Campbell, who also directed the original, struggles to squeeze a five hour serial into a two-hour movie. The original was as much a crime drama as it was a story about a father who tries to get to know his daughter posthumously. The film is a gripping but conventional conspiracy/revenge thriller with clearly identifiable villains. However, after Lethal Weapon, Mad Max and Braveheart, Mel Gibson of all people knows how to play a guy with nothing to lose who doesn't give a shit, and Campbell is one of the most reliable action directors in the business. Ray Winstone gets the best lines of dialogue, but his mysterious government consultant is a plot device rather than a meaningful and plausible character.
