Mel Gibson Brings the Crazy to Edge of Darkness

This film marks Mel Gibson’s first starring role since 2002’s “Signs.” During those eight years, it’s safe to say that Gibson has not lead a quiet life. His well publicized anti-Semitic statements in 2006 have only made him an even more controversial figure. Going into this film, I decided to judge the film and not the man’s off-screen behavior, no matter how disgusting it may have been.

Veteran Boston cop Matthew Craven (Mel Gibson) is excited when his daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic) comes back home for a visit. Craven senses that something is wrong with Emma when he sees her vomiting and bleeding from the nose. As he is about to take her to the hospital, she is brutally killed in front of his eyes by a masked gunman. This causes Craven to embark on a mission to find whoever is responsible for his daughter’s murder.

His investigation leads him to Northmoor, a nuclear research company that his daughter worked for. Gibson has a nice scene with the head of the corporation, played by Danny Huston. Roger Ebert correctly points out that Huston is “ominously courteous” and says his performance reminded him of his father, John Huston, in “Chinatown.” I definitely caught Huston channeling some Noah Cross in this part. I liked Huston’s performance and his enormous glass office overlooking a beautiful forest landscape. It’s a good villain headquarters.

Along Gibson’s investigation he meets up with a shadowy figure, named Jedburgh (Ray Winstone). He appears to be helping Gibson, but also working for Northmoor. Winstone’s presence in the film throws you off a bit. We are not sure why he is here, or what exactly he is doing. This may sound odd, but I think the director, Martin Campbell, needed to do a better job of simplifying the mystery behind Winstone’s character. I enjoyed Winstone’s scenes with Gibson. I felt they were the most interesting moments in the film.

The story becomes more convoluted as we are exposed to the layer upon layers of conspirators that are responsible for Gibson’s daughter’s death. At this point, I did learn to not critically judge this part of the film. In order to enjoy the film, you have to accept the convoluted plot and go along for the ride. This evil conspiracy, involving corporations and the government, is not very good at its job. They let Gibson go on far too long with his investigation. As a result, the film kind of loses what ever thriller, suspense elements it had.

As the film’s plot grows more ridiculous, so does Gibson’s insanity. He is great at playing crazy, maybe that’s because he is a bit crazy in real life. Throughout the film we see him being haunted and having conversations with his dead daughter. The film lays these scenes on thick. When Gibson finally does unleash his revenge, it’s ridiculous, but sure is fun to watch. What he does with a bottle of milk had me laughing my ass off. The film revels in the violence at the end. It’s declaring that it’s just a standard revenge film. There’s nothing unique, or different here.

2 1/2 stars