http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226273/

People love to hate Mel Gibson. His recent outburst at a reporter for example was blown way out of proportion. I have always liked him and will continue to see his films no matter what he says. I am glad to see him come back and Edge of darkness is a good example of Mel at his finest. Last year another British miniseries State of play was made into a film with good results, and this one fares surprisingly well too considering how good the original series was. The plot is fairly standard. Mel Gibson's daughter is killed when visiting him and since the killer yelled "CRAVEN!" when he shot her Mel assumes he was the original target. The rest of the film is slower than you would expect. There is a lot of mystery in the film surrounding a corporation and how it conducts it's business. This is pretty similar to Taken, but much slower paced. There is action here and it is very well done for the most part. However Mel is clearly aging because it was very easy to tell when they used a stunt double in the fight scenes. Ray Winstone, who is one of the best British actors around, plays a mysterious man who seems to know a lot about Mel's situation. You are never really sure whose side he is on, which is by far the most interesting part of the film. Their interactions create a great sense of suspense because you never really know if you should trust him or not.

This is a very brutal film. The fight scenes are like Taken but a bit more bloody. Those who have seen Payback will know what kind of violence to expect. This is one of those films that does mostly everything right, but in the end it cannot achieve greatness because it doesn't really have much to make it stand out. Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, and Danny Huston are all good but the plot is pretty conventional. After all the mystery and build up the film just turns into a generic action movie but with less impressive fight scenes. It is easy to tell that the same director who made Casino Royale made this because the fights have a similar intensity. Revenge films of this kind are a dime a dozen these days. None of them recently have been bad, but after a while they blur together after a while. We all feel sympathy for a man who loses his daughter, which is why Taken did so well. After seeing a couple of movies where a guy loses a daughter or son I need more than that to make a film interesting. Problem with this film is that it doesn't have a lot to make it stand out from the crowd.

It is well written and the plot makes sense despite the typical evil corporations viewpoint. Mel Gibson is a talented actor, but he needs more than this to make a comeback. Look at the film Death Sentence. That can be summed up as Kevin Bacon's son gets killed and he gets angry and tries to kill those who killed his son. You don't need much more than that. Edge fo Darkess tries to comment on society and how corporations use their power. That works well and it gives the film some extra depth. It still feels a bit preachy at times. There is nothing wrong with this movie really but for all the build up and mystery it has you don't really get enough payoff. It is still a fun film though if you don't mind a slower paced mystery with some good fight scenes. I don't think it is as good as it could have been though. I would still recommend it despite that. It is great to see Mel back on screen being badass and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Overall I give it a 7 out of 10.