Mostly boring and humorless Mel Gibson scenes sparingly interspersed by a meditation on something, I know not what, but I bet it was deep, by Ray Winstone. The acting was pretty good but Mel wasn't crazy enough for my tastes.

C-

This was a very solid film. It has more depth and emotional weight than the trailer suggests; not to suggest there isn't action to spare, there is, but the film also has an involving conspiracy plot and a heart. Gibson returns to screen in fine form; he's convincing, intense, and moving, using his older, wearier face and increased heft to his advantage playing a grieving father. Ray Winstone also shines as a spy whose allegiances are shrouded in mystery.

A-/B+

I can see why this did so bad. Very convoluted to a point where you don't care anymore. Mel is fine I guess, and its two or three action scenes are decent while they last.

C+

This movie is underrated.

Edge of Darkness is a revenge film done all wrong. First off, there is too much overacting going on in the first ten minutes or so up to Emma's death. Then the film has to spend the next hour it seems with everyone telling Thomas, "Oh we're so sorry for your loss!" That point should already be done with after the first time its said. It also seems like Gibson never knows where to take Thomas' story by either making him really sad or trying to pull a Gran Torino. Then once the final climax comes about all Thomas does is shoot some people and then pour spoiled milk down the throat of one of the men. Overdoing it? Yes. The film also tries to be this year's Taken and it definitely fails at that. Hopefully Gibson can replace this horrid performance with something new very soon. 1/2*

Bahahaha I forgot about the milk. That looked to rival Nicholas Cage and his bees in The Wicker Man.

Nothing bad about this film, other than its predictable. Even from the trailers you know who the bad guy is. Mel is good and welcomed back. Other than the predictability on the technical sides its very good. Mel needs more than better than generic films to fully return.

B

B-


I wasn't much of a fan of this one. It was a solid action thriller and it actually got me curious about the original mini-series, but by itself it offered nothing new or particularly exciting. It stands in stark contrast to another adaptation of a British TV miniseries - State of Play - which managed to become a terrific thriller. Edge of Darkness is quite run-of-the-mill stuff. Gibson is solid here, but he's performance doesn't have that much dramatic depth and he's also not in the kick-ass mode as Liam Neeson was in Taken. Ray Winstone was one of the film's highlights, though his character didn't make much sense to me.

I usually appreciate Martin Campbell's directing which made the Bond films Goldeneye and Casino Royale a blast and elevated Vertical Limit well above average, but his work here is mostly bland. I've got to admit that once scene (the one with the car, you know which one I mean) was pretty surprising when it happened and shocked me a bit. The rest of the stuff was standard, mostly not very exciting action. The script is convulted and yet at the same time mostly predictable. Hvaing seen the film I am not surprised that word-of-mouth wasn't really good. This was more of another Firewall than another Taken/Man on Fire. A disappointing return of Gibson to acting.

Solid thriller.

B-

I really liked it. After waiting years for Gibson to return to acting, my expectations were a bit too high though. It's a bit slow here and there and the main story isn't the most interesting one but the movie does have it's moments of greatness. B+

Mel doesn't quite go crazy enough, but it's fun while he does.

In the original ending of the miniseries, the main character gets turned into a tree.

This on the other hand looked way too conventional for me to bother. Am I wrong?

In the original, the dad kisses his dead daughter's vibrator.

The hell?

Watched it again yesterday and Gibson does give a pretty terrific performance here. The scene in the car where Gibson asks the bad guy (blacked out on his name) "How does that feel?" is amazing.

Seriously?

Yep

B

This was a pleasant surprise for me, I went into it not expecting much. Mel is best in these type of action/thriller films, imo.



Damn.