pattonfever

23 May 2012

These People Clearly Have Not Seen A Good Revenge Flick

Look the movie is better than 1 star, but I've gotta make up for allthe stars this movie is getting. I'm reading bad reviews by people, andyet they are still giving it 7 or 8 stars. Then there's the guys thatare giving higher praises. My only conclusion is that they are under 20years of age, and think Taken (which I did enjoy) is the best revengemovie ever made. They clearly have not seen enough films in thissub-genre to know what makes a great revenge thriller. And no Man OnFire (although I did enjoy that as well) isn't it either. Instead seeHarry Brown (also out this year), A Bittersweet Life, Thriller A CruelPicture, or even some of Gibson's earlier films. There are too manygreat revenge thrillers to list, but if you do some digging you'lleasily find them. Give this a rent. Don't waste money on it at thetheater, and see Harry Brown for sure.

davidddt

23 May 2012

Nothing edgy about it.

Mel Gibson is not one of my favourite people. Not that I know himpersonally of course but he comes across in real life as the typicalAussie bigot.He can however, despite what others say in this and other reviews, Act.His performance as Hamlet was in my view one of the best in his careerso far.So what does that mean to this movie. Well without his acting ability,this version of Edge of Darknes would never have seen the light of day.Only his performance is worth any merit. I was hoping that because theoriginal was so long ago and as times have long since moved on that themoguls who decided on this remake would have been able to producesomething wholly original. What a spectacular failure in thatassumption. Taking the original theme and reworking the ideas byjumbling them about and turning the movie into a shoot em up might suitAmerican audiences but for the rest of the world and anyone who haseven half a brain it will just not do.If you have not seen this movie then please do not watch it until youhave watched the original TV mini series now out on DVD. If you haveseen the movie then do yourself a favour and watch the original.I cannot believe that this is the same director. Has he gone senile?People who cheat in sport should be stripped of medals won. Likewisepeople who remake classics and turn then into S--t should be castrated.A word on the transfer to Blu Ray. Sound quality is poor, you have toturn it up to hear what's being said and down when the crappy musicstarts. There are no added features to talk of except a number ofouttakes which would never make a "Special Edition". All in all anAmerican rip off! Buy the original miniseries as its well worth themoney even if the picture quality is old.

TomfromBoston

18 May 2012

not a bad movie

Mel Gibson is sometimes a bit stone-faced in this one, lacking theright intensity for some of the situations of his character. But still,the movie's plot is pretty good, enough to keep my interest. If you'relooking to enjoy a detective story that doesn't require a lot of mentaleffort, and that doesn't get too deep, it's a pretty way to spend acouple of hours. Regarding the Boston accents, if you're not from NewEngland, you'll never be able to fake a Boston accent. It's just toohard an accent to learn in a short period. That said, the accents inthis movie were bad in some places, but good in others. If you just cutthe actors a bit of slack on the accents, you'll have a chance to enjoythe movie a bit more.

Robert W.

18 May 2012

Gibsons return to the big screen is triumphant...a twisted dark thriller

This was easily my most anticipated film of the new year. So myexpectations were high. However, Mel Gibson despite all his personalshortcomings, is probably one of, if not my favorite actor of all time.He is versatile and intense and can do anything and everything fromcomedy to action to drama and is the quintessential Hollywood star. SoI was absolutely psyched for this film. It had a lot of expectations tofulfill for me and it didn't disappoint. It didn't quite blow me out ofthe theater with greatness but still thoroughly entertaining, a solidthriller, and complex almost to a fault. There is nothing particularlyground breaking about the movie, in fact the whole vengeance followingthe brutal slaying of a loved one is not new...Death Wish, DeathSentence, Unforgiven, The Brave One and so on but that doesn't make thepremise any less watchable. In fact vengeance type films are even moreriveting because we all have a case of unrequited vengeance inside ofus. On top of that Edge of Darkness tries to not just be run of themill by giving it a solid story and mystery to unravel. I doubt its anysurprise that you know Gibson's character is not the target but themystery that unravels is still interesting and complex.Mel Gibson gives a downright brilliant performance as Boston PoliceDetective Thomas Craven. It isn't just that he puts on an accent but intrue Gibson style he embodies his character and has incredible screenpresence. His character is street smart, clever, and quick and ifanything Gibson's age does not show in his performance. He's as good ashe was nearly a decade ago on screen. Equally as amazing is theperformance of Ray Winstone as a clean up man for the highest bidder.His character is something of a mystery as he leaves only small cluesto his true identity. Either way he is brutal and ruthless andmysterious and a great character. Bojana Novakovic doesn't get a lot ofon screen time before she is brutally gunned down. And I mean brutally.Still the short amount of time she is given she gives a solidperformance. The chemistry with Gibson is excellent and she is great.The supporting cast don't spend a lot of time on screen and some arestronger than others such as Shawn Roberts, and Caterina Scorsone andothers have rather weak performances amongst strong leading cast suchas Danny Huston (who has the opportunity to be a real villain in thefilm), and Jay O. Sanders (who spends the entire film looking scared todeath of Gibson.) It feels like lately studios have been slapping directors with verylittle experience to potentially great films. They did not do that withEdge of Darkness. Martin Campbell has some incredible films under hisbelt including action greats like Bond Films, two Zorro films, andperhaps best of all the UK TV drama that this film was based. Dark,gritty, violent and no holds barred are a good way to describe the waythe film is shot. Easily they could have likely PG'd their way out ofthis but it would have seriously hurt or even killed the quality of thefilm. The film has some brutally violent scenes and the overallsolution to the mystery and the twist that follows is intriguing andwell thought out, not slapped on in any way. It stays together andentertaining from beginning to end. A worthy action thriller that is amust see. 8.5/10

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain

15 May 2012

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Ray Winstone is the bomb. Here he overshadows Gibson, by beingmysterious, conflicted, and just a pleasure to watch. Gibson is greatas well, but with so many daddy revenge films out there, this hardlybreaks boundaries. The film seems very familiar, and despite the wellexecuted direction of Campbell, the action scenes sometimes seemforced.When a witness is taken out by a conveniently timed/silent hitand run, you can pretty much hear the producers cry for "MORE ACTION"and the screenwriter's inevitable *sigh*. It may be dialogue heavy, butwith the likes of Huston and Winstone, it all sounds like rivetingstuff. A very decent film.

Kam Williams

14 May 2012

A cross of The Lovely Bones and No Way Out, only in Bostonese!

Alistair Harkness

04 May 2012

It's no candidate for greatness, but it does a good job of condensing a six-hour story into a lean thriller without feeling as if too much has been sacrificed.

04 May 2012

Which edge? What darkness?

When I clicked on the movie title, "Edge of Darkness," I was prepared to find negative reviews--you know, because of Mel Gibson's private behavior in public places. In fact, I seem to be one of only a very few people who bring that topic to the table. Excellent! A creative artist should be judged by the merits of his work, not his life (unless that something is heinous).So, "Edge of Darkness"--the title clues the viewer at the onset what direction the film will take. The question becomes: What darkness? Which edge of that darkness? The blurbs in the advertisement campaign tell us that Gibson's character, Tom Craven, will arrest no one, with the obvious omission that he will kill his daughter's murderer. That darkness, the one in which a policeman allows a murderous and vengeful heart to dominate, is this the darkness? Step closer. The darkness of a governmental conspiracy theory? Who is involved? For what purpose? This is darkness, indeed! Closer, please. The darkness of whistle blowing, not the act itself, but the resulting consequences, legal and illegal. Now, all the way to the edge...the darkness of an absolute and abject fear caused by ... Ah, you thought I would give a spoiler, eh? In fact, all of these things are hinted and suggested in televised preview blips, making the viewer aware early on just what darkness is being investigated and played out on the big screen.So it's not the darkness--except for that final ring that is the centerpoint of this well-written, well-acted film, but the journey there, the story of a man who loses a daughter he barely knows and his efforts to learn why she had to die. Each discovery takes him closer and closer to that final darkness which he will experience first-hand. Each revelation in this tightly wrapped mystery is a bit more shocking than the one before. I found this story gripping, partly because of the darkness theme, but more because of Gibson's painful portrayal of a man who loses his only child just at the moment he will actually get to know her. The scene at the beach with its flashback and Craven's purpose there had me quietly sobbing.There are just so many surprising moments like the beach scene which, technically, should have slowed the momentum of the film but actually subtly intensifies it. I very much like such films which involve the viewer in so many expected scenes--shootings, for example, car chases, but also very unexpected ones like the Cleaner cleaning and the shock of that scene's conclusion. The film's conclusion itself is unexpected, or at least was for me. Overall "Edge of Darkness" is just that: edgy and dark, and an excellent reason why we celebrate films and film-making, actors and acting.The four-star rating does deserve an explanation. I had the volume of my big-screen unit at two notches below its highest level and STILL had trouble understanding everything being said. Didn't someone in production watch the movie and check for such things? I was annoyed enough to subtract one star from my rating. That's a shame!As a final note--and a positive one--"Edge of Darkness" rates a highly recommended status from this viewer. And Mel Gibson has clearly put himself into the ace acting category with this thoughtful, controlled performance. This is a film I will see again.

03 May 2012

EXCELLENT COMEBACK.

This is one of Mel Gibson's better movies. Very good entertainment if action-adventure is your cup o tea.What I like about it is how tight the plot and story are; its the opposite of navel gazing.

Fred Topel

02 May 2012

Mel delivers on the darkness the title promises. It seems like his most intense performances since Lethal Weapon. I could imagine some of the scenes in this comparing to Riggs' suicide attempt.

stephenrtod

02 May 2012

Mel Gibson still has it Going On.

I thought that two of Mel Gibson's intensely emotional scenes wereabsolutely convincing. Twenty-three after his portrayal of Lt. Riggs inthe first "Lethal Weapon" movie, when Gibson was 31, the actordemonstrates that he is still fit and that the range and depth, andbreadth of his histrionic emotions has matured since movies such as"Braveheart" and "The Man Without a Face." Ray Winstone plays a veryambiguous, interestingly-ambivalent shadowy character, perhaps the mostintriguing figure in the film. The intimate tete-a-tetes with Gibsonare synergistic, the two playing a subtle duet in the midst of theinexplicable fury and betrayal surrounding them.I would recommend this movie to any fans of Mel Gibson. He becomes thecharacter; he owns the role; he is totally invested in carrying thestory line forward.

druid333-2

01 May 2012

Revenge...Thy Name Is Mel Gibson (and dont spare the ginger ale)

Martin Campbell's fine thriller,'Edge Of Darkness' is a remake (ofsorts) of a made for British television pot boiler,originally from1985. This time around,it is set in Boston,Mass. Mel Gibson plays TomCraven,a Boston cop,who gets a visit from his daughter,Emma (played bythe ever watch able Bojana Novakovic). When she is gunned down on thefront porch of Tom's house,Tom insists on heading the investigationinto the murder of his daughter. What he finds is...well, I won't spoilit for you (expect lots & lots of plot twists,involving governmentcorruption & nuclear dirty dealings). Mel Gibson seems to be back inform,after somewhat of a stalled career (his last screenepic,'Apocalypto' tanked at the box office,big time,plus his drunkenrun in with the law,resulting in him making a horse's a** ofhimself)takes on the role of a father going to bat for his latedaughter. Ray Winstone ('Sexy Beast','Nil by Mouth',and let's notforget his break thru role in 'Quadrophenia',from 1978)plays themysterious Jedburgh,a character that turns up when one would leastexpect him to do so. Danny Huston (son of the late John Huston) playsJack Bennett,and the rest of the cast also turn in fine roles in thissmart,well written political potboiler. Let us all hope that Gibsondoesn't ruin things for himself by going off the hook again. MartinCampbell (who thrilled us by directing no less than two James Bondfilms,Goldeneye & the recent remake of 'Casino Royale',as well as theoriginal BBC television edition of 'Darkness'),directs from a scriptwritten by William Monahan & Andrew Borell,based on the TV series byTroy Kennedy Martin. Rated 'R' by the MPAA for some bloody,graphicviolence & some occasional outbursts of rough language.

30 April 2012

EDGE OF DARKNESS !

This review is from: Edge of Darkness (DVD) SAVE YOUR MONEY AND RENT THIS BEFORE YOU BUY IT ! I LIKE MEL ALOT BUT THIS MOVIE WAS DRAWN OUT, BORING, AND LEFT WAY TO MANY GAPS ! IF YOU THINK THIS IS A ACTION FLICK THINK AGAIN ! THE ACTION IS THERE FOR A SECOND OR TO AND GONE AGAIN ! IF YOU LIKE THESE REVENGE MOVIES. BUY " TAKEN " OR " DEATH SENTENCE " BOTH ARE WAY BETTER FLICKS. SORRY MEL YOU CAN DO WAY BETTER THAN THIS ONE !

kahnguru

29 April 2012

Lame movie from a lame TV series

Nothing really works in this movie. Too long, lots of boring moments,ridiculous "action" scenes, bad directing, some seriously bad acting,and a plot full of holes. Imagine a bad English movie, there you'llhave Edge of Darkness. This is the classical movie where the bad guysride black horses, and the good guys ride white horses. You can tellfrom the beginning that there will be a betrayal, and you'll know verywell who the traitor will be. You will have some "shocking" revelationswhich you'll have figured out after 10 minutes of movie. I didn't thinkthat Mel Gibson would come back after 8 years as main character withsuch a weak movie. Sure Signs wasn't such a good movie either, but interms of action films he has always done much better than this.

29 April 2012

A nice, intelligent, adult thriller.

"Edge of Darkness", directed by Martin Campbell, is a well made film. It has an engaging mystery, and characters that act realistically to what is presented. More so the actors, especially Mel Gibson, deliver fine, brooding work. Gibson, with his first film since "Signs" (eight years prior), doesn't skip a beat. While he certainly looks his age, he brings an intensely physical presence to the film. "Edge of Darkness" was based on a television series and because of that, the film can feel episodic during the middle. But that can be forgiven since the beginning and ending are both so tightly edited and Gibson is an incredibly relatable hero. "Edge of Darkness" is an unusually intelligent, decidedly adult, and ultimately satisfying thriller.

28 April 2012

Excellent, emotional action-thriller

I've never seen the original Edge of Darkness mini-series but this terrific new thriller by the original director Martin Campbell has me more than interested.The story takes place in Boston, MA and follows an aging police officer's investigation into his own daughter's brutal death (which happens right in front of him). What starts out as a routine detective/revenge story turns into a loopy and violent conspiracy thriller. There's alot of plot twists and not all of them make sense but it's energetic and filled with colorful characters and a protagonist you want to root for. The action is also incredibly well done, though I'd expect nothing less from the director of Casino Royale. A big reason I never saw this film in the theaters was having Mel Gibson in the starring role. He's getting older and his real-life outbursts and anti-semetism is more than a little off-putting (he seems to be trying to prove himself one of the worst human beings on the planet!). Thankfully Gibson fully disappears into his role with a decent bostonian accent and solid acting chops and charisma. Equally good (and delightfully dark humored) is Ray Winstone as an assassin conducting his own investigation. Danny Huston is well cast as a shady corporate man with alot of secrets.While Edge of Darkness may not be best movie of the year it is a VERY well done and entertaining film. I can't say whether or not fans of the original mini-series will like it (judging by the other amazon reviews: probably not) but I can say I very much enjoyed this movie from beginning to end.

TxMike

23 April 2012

Who am I? Im the guy with nothing to lose, and I dont give a spit!

I enjoyed this movie, not because it is high art, or that it isrealistic, but because it is entertaining. Mel Gibson plays a role thathe has played before, a man who gets so pi$$ed at injustices that hefreewheels into situations and wreaks havoc. A good old revenge movie.Mel Gibson is Thomas Craven, a Boston cop, whose daughter, BojanaNovakovic as Emma Craven, works for a government contractor intop-secret ('That's classified') projects. She comes home to visit and,as they drive from the train station he observes that she seems sick.And after they are home she is sick again, and her nose bleeds. As hehelps her out of the house, to get her to a hospital, a man is infront, with a mask, and yells "Craven" then he shoots Emma. She dies onthe floor.An observant viewer (ME) notices that he only shoots once, and assumesthat his target really was the daughter, not the cop. But authoritiesand news reporters assume dad was the target and the gunman simplymissed. I never bought that story. The character I liked the most is old reliable tough guy, Ray Winstoneas Jedburgh. It never was clear what his actual job was, or even which"side" he was on, but we knew, as well as Craven, that he was capableof seeing anyone dead, if he chose to. An actor that took quite a while to be recognized, Danny Huston is JackBennett, the big boss at the top secret corporation. We soon suspectthat he in fact is a bad guy, and may be responsible for Emma's murder. There is enough stuff to keep us guessing, and there are the standardshady politicians and cops who are motivated more by money than byanything else. But Gibson does his usually good job of playing a crazy,out-of-control cop when the situation demands it. Very entertaining.MAJOR SPOILERS: Emma figured out early that illegal things were goingon where she worked, and Bennett was the mastermind. Some of itinvolved illegal manufacture of nuclear weapons for foreign countries.When she helped 3 from a protest organization sneak in, she wastargeted as an undesirable, and Thalium was added to her milk bottle topoison her. As her dad got closer and closer to the truth, heunwittingly became poisoned as he drank the milk. But sick, he managedto track down and shoot all the bad guys, including the assassins andBennett. In the end he is in a hospital being treated, but he dies andwe see him and his daughter, symbolically walking out of the hospital,arm in arm.

Christopher Smith

23 April 2012

A flawed, middle-of-the-road, mildly enjoyable thriller.

Luke Y. Thompson

21 April 2012

With Clint Eastwood seemingly retiring from the acting game, it's good to still have at least one aging, scowling badass who isn't afraid to unleash the righteous thunder

micknanoo

21 April 2012

Solidly diverting for two hours but not the quality slab of meaty entertainment youd expect from The Road Warrior himself...

Oh, Mel Gibson you beautiful looney. It's been 8 years since we've hadthe pleasure of you on our screens, but in that time you've rarely beenout of the headlines. You've been swearing at cops, drinking withteenagers, leaving your wife and kids, angering an entire people and,oh yeah, making quite insanely bloodthirsty movies. Welcome back, Mel.In Gibson's first starring role since 2002's Signs, he plays ThomasCraven, a Boston Homicide Detective who's daughter Emma (BojanaNovakovic) is shot and killed by a masked assailant, right before hisvery eyes. First assumption is that the shotgun blast was meant forhim, but soon Craven learns that the violent sickness Emma wassuffering moments before her death was no dodgy curry, but a small partof a much larger conspiracy of theCIA-cover-ups-and-political-skullduggery variety.Adapted from the BBC Television Series that he directed some 25 yearsago, Martin Campbell has proved in the past that he can handle bothaction and espionage (GoldenEye, Casino Royale), but strangely thereseems to very little of either here. Oh yes, there's plenty of activityas Gibson works his way around Massachusetts poking and prodding, thenpounding and punching. There's plenty of exposition and revelations aswe see just how high this cabal goes, but it all seems to evolvewithout any real tension. We get Dolby-scares (two very good ones, ishas to be said) but not even a decent car chase to get ourexcitement-node going. Come on now, the very least we deserve in arevenge flick is our hero burning-rubber in his chariot of justice.In the other roles, Ray Winstone is nicely placed as a CIA 'cleaner'with a lot on his angst (a part originally intended for Robert DeNiro,who left due to 'creative differences'). The barrel-bellied Englishmanproviding the films only real surprises in the few scenes he has. DannyHuston is lazily one-note, however, and seems to be using this film asan audition to be the next Bond villain, complete with evil lair,henchmen and glazed sinister smirk.Gibson himself, although nicely ripened and finally not afraid to showus that he really is quite small, had unfortunately exhausted everyacting move he had by the time he went on sabbACTical (see what I didthere?) so nothing much in his performance here surprises or impresses.He gives us the eyes, the gritted teeth and the barely contained rage,but we got all that from Martin Riggs in four Lethal Weapon films so itwould have been nice to get something a little left-of-centre.So, as we watch things tediously unfold and unfurl to their inevitablybloody conclusion, things are acceptable but never exceptional. There'sretribution but not the glorious payback you might expect by thestandards of our age. Wild, whirling rides like Taken and Man on Fireknew what we love about the revenge movie; our elated shock andsatisfaction when we see our protagonist do some seriously crazy stuff.Let's call it the 'Oh, no he didn't!' effect. Sadly, Mel doesn't. Ohno, he didn't...