Edge of Darkness (2010)

I was almost about to skip posting this considering the time restrictions I have, but I decided to do it (it will probably the record delay from my Romanian blog version that I managed to write somewhere between Saturday and Sunday). So .. for the last's week blog entry :), I'm probably also not having the best sync considering that Mel Gibson isn't probably the most appreciated character these days, but it's the only movie that's fresh in my mind at this moment, and it's actually quite good. So ...

Somewhere, on a lake, under the moonlight, three corpses are floating. In a train station in Boston, Thomas Craven, detective in the local PD, welcomes his daughter, an intern of a shady nuclear energy research company (or something like this). She seems to be back home after a pretty long absence but her visit doesn't last too long. She seems to have a cold and she starts feeling more sick, finally deciding to go to a hospital, but ... the way stops at the front porch of her father's house ... That's how the movie starts ( :) and I didn't say more than you can see in the trailer ).

"Edge of Darkness" is a remake after a BBC mini-series from '85 that I didn't get to see but probably deserves credit for the original story, and it's interesting that it has the same director. Anyway, going back to the movie, it's a thriller that for me was something like a mix between "The Pelican Brief" for the political touch, "Michael Clayton" for the evil corporation theme, and add to these a scent from "Man on Fire". Despite all these references it has enough originality in it and pretty solid story to tell. The script is excellent, even considering some parts that are slightly exaggerated and some other that maybe don't make much sense up to a certain point. You can say that you have a complex story not only the action part you're able to see in the trailer (considering the usual stuff on big screens these days). Actually, I think the trailer is not so good in presenting the movie, but maybe it's better because you will get more than a simple revenge story as probably suggested. Besides this, "Edge of Darkness" has something that you can't see in the trailer apart from some letters - the title. It's indeed dark .. and cold, but not in a way to make you wonder if it's safe to leave home considering what kind of people you might meet outside as in "Brooklyn's Finest", "Winter's Bone" or "Training Day". This time the feeling gets to an upper level from the common everyday life = reaches the political area (= you can leave home, inside is as unsafe as it's outside :) ). The harsh part of the movie is helped a lot by the editing. There are two scenes to mention (of course I won't disclose them :) ), that aren't at all as violent as you can see in the usual horror movies, but much much more effective when they take place. But the movie compensates from time to time, doesn't get to any extremes, you have some places where exactly the fact that overall is quite dark and cold helps for a short while to get quite warm as a feeling (I'm tired and I'm probably rambling nonsense :) but I think you really get to feel something for the character, so from the empathy point of view the way the film is quite well done).

I'll wrap up as I started, saying a few words about the cast. It was supposed to have also De Niro in a supporting role as a government "problem solver", but he's not there. Which actually turned to be quite ok, considering Ray Winstone as replacement, and I really doubt that De Niro could have done a better role. About Gibson I won't say more than that I hope he didn't completely bury his career with the current scandals because strictly judging him for the movie business deserves all the appreciation, and you can see that also here. And now the trailer ... which as I said ... doesn't give too much of what you can actually see ;) just check out the movie

Rating: 4 out of 5