Edge Of Darkness [Resume, Trailer and Download]

By now we all know there are two Mel Gibson’s. There’s Mel Gibson the crazed religious fanatic. And then there’s Mel Gibson the movie star. In “Edge Of Darkness” the movie star returns to the genre that made him a star. It recalls many of Gibson’s better films such as “Lethal Weapon” and “Ransom”. But the memories of those films only make us wish “Edge Of Darkness” was more fun.

The movie’s convoluted plot plays like a bad Alan J. Pakula film. The simple part is that Gibson’s daughter is murdered and he sets out to find her killer. The complex part deals with corporate conspiracies that would be difficult even for Michael Clayton to clean up.

The evil corporation Northmoor is extremely secretive about their work which deals with radiation and nuclear weapons being made with foreign parts so the U.S. can assign the blame to other countries.

To keep their dirty little secrets and close every potential loophole, a lot of people meet with violent deaths. One person is run down by a car the second she opens her own car door and steps out into the road. How did that killer have such perfect timing? Was he driving around in circles at 100mph waiting for her to exit her car?

But as secretive as this corporation would like to be, their office is a towering modern glass skyscraper sitting on top of a mountain overlooking a beautiful river valley. Inconspicuous is not the word that comes to mind.

For what is supposed to be an action-thriller, this film is far too talky. Probably half the film consists of long, slow scenes of two people whisper-talking in thick accents which should require subtitles to be understood. Director Martin Campbell re-invented the James Bond franchise with 2006’s “Casino Royale”. But here he’s having trouble holding our interest as this too-complicated plot begins to unravel.

DVD Double Feature: The hard-to-believe plot in “Edge Of Darkness” seems like something Mel Gibson’s character in “Conspiracy Theory” might have dreamed up. In this fun, overlooked thriller from 1997, Gibson plays a wacko with loads of odd theories. One of those, involving co-star Julia Roberts, just might be true. The movie re-teamed Gibson with his “Lethal Weapon” director Richard Donner.