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Edge of Darkness

09/Feb/2010

By Christian Wilkinson

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REMEMBER a 1985 BBC mini-series called Edge of Darkness?

Quite possibly so, because it was regarded as a high watermark of television drama that tapped into the deep-set fear of nuclear power and warfare that was so prevalent in the heightened Cold War tensions of the Regan era.

The BAFTA-scooping six-part series was directed New Zealand-born director Martin Campbell, who has gone on to direct Hollywood films including James Bond reboot Casino Royale, and has now returned to the story that sent his career skyward for this US feature film remake.

Campbell no longer has the reservoir of nuclear paranoia that helped make the mini-series so gripping, but he does have Mel Gibson, who plays his first lead role in seven years.

Gibson plays Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven whose only child, 24-year-old Emma, is killed in a drive-by shooting in front of his house in an attack initially assumed to be directed at Craven.

Seeking some answers and some justice, Craven conducts his own murder investigation and discovers there was much to his daughter’s life that he knew nothing about.

He also begins to suspect that the murder may be somehow linked to her job as an intern at a secretive nuclear research facility.

Gibson puts in a refreshingly raw performance, with his character’s weariness and anger enhanced by the lines on his face and the bags under his eyes laid bare for all to see.

It may not be the most dynamic performance of his career, but it is an appropriate one for his straight-laced, slightly repressed character.

Gruffly charismatic English actor Ray Winstone (The Proposition, Sexy Beast) plays a shadowy operative whose motivations keep the audience guessing until the end.

Unfortunately, his performance is restrained to the point that he appears tired, which may be appropriate in addressing some plot elements, but a livelier character would have provided some contrast to the permanently morose Craven.

Plot elements from the original series have been trimmed back to exclude the ecological “Earth fights back” angle that added scope to the original, with its absence reducing the remake to a regular political/crime thriller.

Edge of Darkness is a competent and well-paced film that was never going to be as edgy as the original series.

Even the title, which sounded edgy in 1985, seems generic today.

Edge of Darkness (M)

Directed by: Martin Campbell

Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone

Rating: Three stars (117 mins)

Screening: Now


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