Thursday 28 January 2010

Jesus Christ! Mel Gibson’s got a new film: Edge of Darkness reviewed


Resurrected as a Boston police detective, Mel Gibson returns to the screen as a single father and honest citizen seeking retribution for his child’s murder on the doorstep of his own home. So far, so Patriot but this Martin Campbell thriller quickly takes a political turn. Based on the 1980s BBC miniseries , the Cold War origins of this Edge of Darkness reworking become palpable as Craven (Mel Gibson) goes about exposing a ‘nuclear waste facility’ for what it actually is in his radioactive quest for revenge.

As he slowly transforms into what basically a UN weapons inspector with 'nothing to lose' but plenty of ammunition, the aesthetic becomes increasingly stylised despite the director’s claims to ‘realism’. As if most people stumble around with a trenchcoat, a loaded gun and a frenetic Geiger counter after they’ve been poisoned, radioactively that is. Previous to this transition, he spends his time moping about his daughter and hearing voices in a pathetic attempt to be emotive. Otherwise, it looks good, it builds tension well but at its core is just another one of Mel's angry American dad films with Ray Winstone, raincoats and radioactivity thrown in for js.

It's out tomorrow guys. We give it a 5/10 on the Geiger counter.MK

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