“Edge of Darkness”
Written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell; Directed by Martin Campbell; Stars Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston. Story: A tough Boston cop takes the law into his own hands when his daughter is murdered before his eyes and he slowly discovers the corporate corruption which she planned to expose.
Seen by Adam and Lars Jan 31, 2010
LARS:
Mel Gibson is insane. He’s highly religious, anti-semitic, a misogynist, and an alcoholic. Basically, he is Riggs from “Loaded Weapon”. But can I just be European for a second and say WHO CARES? I’m not going to hang out with him. I’m not his friend. We’re not related. Nor do I have to work with him. So while I don’t share any of his worldviews, I’m going to take the high road here. We’re all imperfect in one way or another. If you’re a celebrity, people just care too much. I’m sure Meryl Streep* probably has flaws too, but I don’t judge her by her life, but by how she does her job. That job is to entertain me, the paying customer. Mel has always done that very well, and he continues to do so in “Edge of Darkness”, which I suppose is his comeback movie after the DUI incident of a few years ago. Basically, Mel never has to work a day in his life anymore, if he doesn’t want to. His sadistic depiction of the last days of Jesus, “The Passion of the Christ” was financed and produced by himself (as even other religious fanatics thought it was a bit over the top, apparently). That gamble made him about $600 million dollars, which makes other torture porn movies like “Saw” and “Hostel” blanch in comparison. I saw it sitting amongst a group of Philippino Catholics who were all crying their eyes out, but that’s a story for another time.
Even though he is getting a little long in the tooth for a pure action role, Mel does a fine job of portraying the detective Thomas Craven, whose daughter is brutally murdered in front of his eyes. That happens about 5 minutes into the film, and the rest of the time is spent figuring out the sinister chain of events that led to her assassination. “Edge of Darkness” is based on a BBC mini-series from 1985, which I vividly remember watching, when it was on TV. That version of the story took 6 hours to tell, so they basically cut out most of the sleuthing in favor of pure action to get it down to feature length. The BBC series is available on Netflix, and I highly recommend watching it.
Even though I’m sure the filmmakers never intended it, “Edge of Darkness” is very timely. If you’ve been following recent decisions made by the Supreme Court, you’ll know that a split court decided not to put any limit on political campaign contributions made by corporations. That effectively allows corporations to go to a politician and say that they will give him a million dollars to run his campaign, if he promises to always vote in their favor. If he says no, the corporation can turn around, go to his opponent and donate the money to him. Sadly, in the US winning a political race is all about having the money to campaign, so the Supreme Court has basically handed over the political system to corporate America. Nice work, guys. You should be very proud of yourselves.
Anyway, enough of my ranting. This is just to say, that part of the plot of “Edge of Darkness” hinges on this very type of corporate ownership of a politician. The flick will certainly not make you think about politics, as it’s a by-the-numbers revenge movie in this incarnation. It’s very enjoyable, but not exactly a stretch for Mel or the very talented Martin Campbell, the director of “Goldeneye” and “Casino Royale”, two of the best James Bond movies ever made. But then it’s January, and who ever heard of a great movie being released in January?
*I actually don’t think Meryl Streep has any flaws whatsoever. She may be the only perfect human being in this or any other world.
ADAM:
Those who know me well know that I’m an idealist at heart, but a realist in practice. What the hell does that mean?
• It means that there’s more than a little cynic in me.
• It means the glass is half empty a lot of the time.
• It means that when I cross the street, I make sure cars slow down.
The idealist says, “Cars will see me and stop – the pedestrian has the right of way.”
The realist says, “You’re willing to bet your life on that?”
So, I live most my life as a realist. But deep down inside I have idealistic thoughts: life should be fair; an honest wage for an honest day’s work; nice guys should finish first, truth and justice. Pipe dream, I know.
It’s a rare thing that real life unfolds in an ideal fashion, and because of this deficiency of what “should happen”, we immerse ourselves in fantastical stories. This is what escapism is all about. Living the lives we don’t have, traveling to far off places, witnessing historical events and being taken for a fun ride. And just as an on-screen couple riding off into the sunset can be fulfilling for idealistic romantics or an uplifting drama can inspire idealistic people who find themselves in a crisis of conscience, a vigilante who creates his own brand of justice and kicks the living shit out of bad guys who take advantage of others is a recipe for success, and for me, is just what I needed. But a recipe is nothing without quality ingredients. Mel Gibson, who’s aged quite a bit since his days as Martin Riggs can still pull it off. Ray Winstone is so good in a great role, he nearly steals the movie. William Monahan (screenwriter of The Departed) can unspool a story as well as most, and Martin Campbell can shoot action. So this is a good cocktail for starters.
And it flows pretty well. There isn’t much that going to surprise you here – from who might be bad to what’s really going on isn’t very hidden, and I suppose it’s not supposed to be – this is a movie where we’re never really ahead or behind Mel on his journey, but we take it with him. That’s a good strategy because we’re about as pissed as he is and thus enjoy the ass-kicking he administers every step of the way. No it’s not new, not even for Mel. Payback? Very similar, where Mel checks off his various enemies as he climbs the ‘outfit’ layer cake. Ransom? There he’s seeking revenge for a crime against a child (similar), but watered down as only Ron Howard can do, in my opinion.
So it’s not about the mystery – you know where it’s all headed. But ask yourself this: when stepping up to a roller coaster, you’re aware it’s coming back to the station at the end, but you still enjoy the ride. If you’re cool with that, you’ll be cool with Edge of Darkness. And if you’re idealistic (whether at heart or on your sleeve) you’ll enjoy living vicariously through Mel as he hands out bullets, fists and idealistic rhetoric like “You’d better decide if you’re the one hangin’ on the cross or bangin’ in the nails.”
