Review: Edge of Darkness

Grade: B-

Thomas Craven is a homicide detective in Massachusetts. One day his daughter, Emma, comes home to visit him. While there she is shot dead on the front steps of his house by a masked killer. At first it appears that Thomas was the intended victim but as he begins to look into it he starts to think otherwise. The more he looks into the incident and her career he begins to discover that she was living a secret life that led to her murder. Along the way he runs into a world of corporate corruption and government cover up as he begins to fear for his own life while trying to avenge his daughters.

This movie was alright. The action scenes were good but they were short and distanced from each other. The story was pretty good but it was kind of predictable at times. The movie had a tendency to move pretty slow and drag on a bit. I definitely feel they had far too many flashback sequences of Thomas' memories of Emma as a little girl. We get it, he loved his daughter, you don't need to beat us over the head with these sequences that have nothing to do with the story.

Mel Gibson (Payback, We Were Soldiers) plays the lead role of Thomas Craven. It was nice to see Mel back in front of the camera for the first time in 7 years. He did a good job with the role but as we have seen with other actors recently, he's a bit old to do action, which might be part of the reason this movie doesn't have much. Ray Winstone (The Departed, King Arthur) plays the role of the mysterious Captain Jedberg, a secret government agent whose job it is to dispose of evidence of cover ups. Winstone was one of the better parts of the movie and his character was very intriguing. Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Children of Men) plays Jack Bennett, the CEO of the mysterious company Emma Craven worked for.

The movie was good and it was worth watching but as far as revenge movies go it has been done much better elsewhere. I just really wish that this movie wasn't so slow because it seemed to have a lot of potential. As I said, it's great to see Mel Gibson acting again but all at the same time it seems like he should stick to directing at this point.

Great Quote: "You had better decide If you're hanging on the cross, or banging in the nails."