Rating
1.5

Edge of Darkness celebrates Mel Gibson’s return to the screen after nearly eight years being on hiatus; however, watching Edge of Darkness is not how you should be rejoicing.

Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a Boston homicide detective, whose daughter was killed while visiting her father. While looking into Emma’s death, Craven’s investigations lead him to find government conspiracies and cover-ups that help explain why Emma was killed.

Edge of Darkness had way too many slow parts to keep viewers interested long enough to pay attention to the movie. For every two minutes of important information, there was about 10 minutes of different plotlines in the movie that do not relate to the film.

(AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)

Although the jumpiness of movie is distracting, the plot is fairly predictably, so viewers can keep up with the film despite the random information throw into the film.

Campbell also expects viewers to know who secondary character are and the motives they have. Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) is a CIA agent that covers up the murders of Emma and her fellow activists. Jedburgh comes into the movie at such random times, audience members will be left scratching their heads wondering what the hell just happened.

These types of characters appear more often than they should be, they are forgettable and really have no place in the movie.

The only redeeming quality about Edge of Darkness is Mel Gibson’s performance. He produces a man who you can actually believe is on the edge of insanity, which proves useful as he is the “man who has nothing to live for.” The only downfall to Gibson’s performance is the accent he attempts to have, because he is the only one in the entire movie that has a Boston accent.

Gibson was by far the best thing that happened to this film, but no matter how much star power he gives, Edge of Darkness is still a bad movie.