Movie Review - Edge of Darkness

  I went to see this movie last Friday. Mel Gibson plays a Boston detective whose daughter comes home for a rare visit and gets killed. The plot of the movie revolves around his quest to find who killed his daughter and why. Gibson finds out so much about his daughter he didn't know, I wonder if his constant flashback memories of the two of the were made up. My son liked the intrigue, but I thought there was way too much intrigue and not enough action. I know that Gibson is too old to be an action hero, but he still had a gun and a car for the entire movie. There are a lot of shady characters in the movie, but it seems every time Gibson meets one, they have a discussion rather than a fight. There is one vaguely English spy type who only talks in riddles and has one of his cerebral confrontations with Gibson over a glass of Scotch. Gibson doesn’t drink his Scotch, though (that will show the Limey spy).

  The ultimate bad guy is well played by Danny Huston and the story moves along at a good pace. The violent episodes seem extra jarring since they tend to follow grand pontifications of the protagonists. One thing I didn’t like was the overuse of the ‘F’ word. Since there is no sex or nudity and very little violence, having all the characters dropping the ‘F’ bomb is strangely out of place. Despite the trailer making the movie look a lot like 'Taken', be warned that this is not an action movie.

  The best line of the movie : "You had better decide whether you're hangin' on the cross... or bangin' in the nails."