Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness is actually better than its lame title would suggest.

It's yet another vigilante film, this time focusing on Boston detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson), who has a still, mournful quality—and this is before his only daughter (Bojana Novakovic) is gunned down in front of him.

At first, Craven and the rest of the Boston PD, think he was the intended target, but as Craven investigates his daughter's murder, he finds himself neck-deep in a tangly conspiracy. Turns out, the nuclear power company his daughter was interning for was doing more than just developing alternate sources of energy for the government. And it turns out, trying to blow the whistle on them was not conducive to staying alive.

This is Mel's comeback film, after his controversial arrest three summers ago, and he's made a solid, if unambitious, choice. His Detective Craven is a stock figure—the loner with a righteous mission to defend his family—but Mel infuses him with a believable air of desperation and gravitas. The film gives him ample opportunity to kick butt (maybe too many opportunities) and several scenes with his daughter to show his softer side.

Edge of Darkness is based on a BBC mini-series, also directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), and that helps to explain all the intriguing, but never fully explored, characters that populate the film's edges. There's Jack Bennet (Danny Huston), the slick and condescending head of the energy firm; wryly philosophical tough guy Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a fixer type that the government has hired to make the problem (namely, Craven) go away; plus the smarmy and pompous Massachusetts Senator (Damian Young) whose team of advisors are an amusingly twitchy and unscrupulous bunch.

Problem is, everything is done hastily—as if the filmmakers were in a rush to include all the best bits from the mini seriesand make Edge of Darkness a satisfying action thriller tailored to American tastes. As such, the film is perfectly watchable, but stuck between genres—it's not sure if it's a vigilante action film (a la Liam Neeson's Taken) or a dense conspiracy thriller (a la Three Days of the Condor).

Allow me to take umbrage on behalf of the American viewing audience. We do not need excessive chases and beat downs to be entertained! (Okay, well at least not all of the time. . .).