I saw the BBC mini series, The Edge of Darkness back in June when it was released on DVD. For a mid 80′s production it was pretty good. I had wondered at the time if it had any connection to the then recent Mel Gibson flick of the same name. A quick surface check on the internet didn’t reveal anything that suggested that the two shared anything past their name. You would have assumed that they would both be referencing each other in some of their publicity, but no, it seemed that the two were strangers.
So it was with some anticipation that I sat down to watch Mel Gibson’s latest revenge flick – I had quite enjoyed is late 90′s revenge, Payback, and was looking forward to seeing Mel work his magic once more.
I should have clicked when his character was called Dectective Craven, but I didn’t. I only clicked when his daughter gets two barrels of a shot gun to the chest on his doorstep. Click. The light went on in my head.
This was a cheap American remake of a solid British mini-series. Yes the Americans were once again trying to condense a story that the BBC took 314 minutes to tell, into a 131 minute action flick.
Sadly all they really managed to do was to show just how bad an actor Mel really was. And how easy it is to mis-cast roles, with Jay O Sanders looking like he has walked off the set of a comedy and was desperate to dish out some funny one liners – who knows this might have actually worked if h had, in a weird kind of way.
But it wasn’t all a total loss – in a moment of sheer brilliance and with a bucket load of irony – Ray Winstone was cast in the pivotal role of Jedburgh. This combined with a massively different – action blockbuster infused – ending gave the film an little more credibility than it probably deserved.
Of course, if you’ve never seen the original, then you just might think that Edge of Darkness is Mel’s finest work to date. I’m going to be generous and give it the benefit of the doubt along with 3 stars. FILMGUIDE rating: Reviewed by: Jonathan Read Release date: August 11th, 2010 Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Peter Hermann, Caterina Scorsone Length (Minutes): 131 Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1 Languages: English Supported Audio: DTS Digital Surround 5.1 Director: Campbell, Martin Studio: Warner Bros
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