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SOUND OFF

Sound Off: Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness - Thoughts?

by Alex Billington
January 29, 2010

Now that you've seen it, what did you think? It's been nearly 8 years since we last saw Mel Gibson on the big screen, and now he's back with a vengeance in Edge of Darkness, which hits theaters everywhere this weekend. Directed by veteran filmmaker Martin Campbell (who will be helming Green Lantern next), it's a revenge film about a father who discovers his murdered daughter's life was anything but ordinary. But how is the movie? Is it as awesome as the trailer made it seem? How is it seeing Mel Gibson acting again? If you've seen it, sound off, leave a comment below, and let us know what you thought of Edge of Darkness!

To fuel the fire, I enjoyed Edge of Darkness, but I did not love it. This is one of the first times I've ever felt that Martin Campbell dropped the ball as a director. He's not terrible, but there are some pacing problems with this and other directing issues that I felt hurt the overall quality of the movie. Mel Gibson is awesome and it's great to see him back on the big screen, that almost goes without saying. He nails his Boston accent perfectly and everyone else in the movie does an acceptable job. However, I felt like Ray Winstone was really out of place. I couldn't ever get into Edge of Darkness; I don't think it's a bad movie, just not a great one.

What did you think of Edge of Darkness? An awesome revenge thriller or dull & unexciting?

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Related categories: Discussion, Hype, Sound Off

http://diddlesmovies.blogspot.com Andrew DiDonato

Campbell is hit or miss with me. His films Vertical Limit and Beyond Borders were by far his worst but yeah I'm in the same boat. Liked it, didn't love it.
Shane

I saw a sneak preview of this on Tuesday and I enjoyed it. Think "Taken" meets "The Departed". It was a good, solid thriller.
Matt

it was great to see Mel on the big screen again. I agree it had elements of "Taken", "The Departed" but it also had elements of "Payback" as well. Or you can look at as Riggs has finally snapped! lol
http://comicbooks.tumblr.com Ivan Jaime

I was in Hollywood last night, so I dropped by the Arclight to watch the midnight screening. Two hours later, my feeling was a big ol 'meh'. I'm with you on this one, Alex. As well-made as this film is, you can clearly see what scenes were added during the reshoots, especially during one scene as it had one of the worst editing transitions I've seen on a major studio film in quite a while. You could here WB execs saying "More action!" Poor Ray Winstone --that was a DeNiro part written for DeNiro... I did enjoy seeing Mel on-screen again, however I should mention plenty of people in the audience were laughing at some of his scenes which were clearly not meant to be funny. Mel has always had great screen presence, a special quality many modern stars lack. Still, I greatly to look forward Marty Campbell's upcoming Green Lantern feature. He seems like a fan of the comic book, and has spoken about the Corps and Oa.
Scott McHenry

I could tell from the trailer that it would be kinda forgettable.
billybob

I won't ever watch any film associated with that Jew hating prick.
andrea

how did the milk get poisoned?
dee

Different strokes for different folks. I liked it as a crime thriller. It was a slow burn and Mel was a badass. This is not TAKEN this is a crime thriller. I enjoyed it and it was a HARD R movie! Thumbs up!
C. Pas

Loved it. Very well done, Mel on point as usual. I was very entertained.
http://www.popcornmonster.com Dan Geer

Yeah, I thought it was quite different from "Taken," actually. I enjoyed "Edge of Darkness" quite a bit. It was good, but not great. Mel Gibson was great though.
Gex

#6, go screw yourself. #7, they wanted to poison Gibson, so they probably snuck in and did something. #11, I liked this film. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on Blu-Ray (so long as it's less than $20).
http://iconocritic.com peloquin

The milk was poisened by the evil corporation and his daughter had it with her when she came home. It was poisened from the beginning and sitting in his fridge. It's the reason she was sick when she first arrived and Mel used it against them because he noticed it was irradiated when he was scanning the objects in the fridge.
NICK

i think he drank the milk himself so that he could die as he couldnt live without his daughter. the corporation sent the govt goons as the solution to getting him out of the picture. doesnt make sense they would poison him and also bring him back to headquarters. all in all, a solid thriller. mel is a movie star in the traditional sense. he and probably clooney are the last of the guys who just look like stars on the screen
Big John

This is hhonestly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The opening was great, than the next hour 15 was the most boring "thriller" I have ever witnessed. Comparing it to Taken and Departed is a crime. There was no character building besides Mel Gibson, it was all a bunch of nonsense. That last scene looked like a cut-out scene from Shaun of the Dead. What a joke and waste of my time. The 2 people i watched the movie with hated it as much as me, there was not one good aspect of the movie except the girl getting smashed by the car. .5 out of 5 stars.
Flymo

@ Big John With all honesty I think some of the comments you made were very well put together but your last sentence ruins the entire post. I thought EOD was had a seemingly simple plot but suprised me with it's complexity and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
bob

does anyone know really how mel got infected or poisoned?
Johndevak

I found it very strange to watch ... You see I remember the original BBC series very well, a classic in its time ... although I will agree that watching the series again it would appear to be "dated" by now ... the problem I have, I have in my "minds eye" Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker the "Stars"in the original story .... I have to say, that even after 25 years, I still prefer the original !!!!! not bad though .. but I do wish that the Americans would stop "Stealing" British Stories and converting them to an American tale .... Its like watching "Brave Heart" all over again ... to a "Brit" Mel's Scot's accent was terrible in that film ... and the story portrayed in that film was nothing close to reality ... Ask any Scotsman ... so long as he is from the right Clan of course .... but here I digress ... in the end it is all about how "Credible" the film is ... and I don't think it is .. it just does not work for me .....
Big John

@flymo Thank You. What was wrong with the last sentence? .5 out of 5 stars? or should I have said 1/2 of one star out of 5?
nick

any chance the crown was poisoned by his cop buddy?
http://www.examiner.com/x-5826-San-Jose-Autos-Examiner Rob

The Poisoning: It was pointed out to me that the cop friend mentioned dusting off the Brandy after his daughters shooting. The "Clean-Up" guy and Mel shared the Brandy and both were having hallucinations. The final stage of that poisoning was being unable to speak but the "Clean-Up" guy died before reaching that stage. Remember, he was much larger than Mel Gibson and that was pointed out in the movie. I'm curious what poison that was. The symptoms were not the same as radiation poisoning.
Carol

I believe it was thallium poisoning
http://www.examiner.com/x-5826-San-Jose-Autos-Examiner Rob

The symptoms were not the same as the daughter and neither of them matched what is listed in Wiki or this site: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20402
Rusty

It was radioactive Thallium...it was radioactive poisoning. He was poisoned according to the original script by his tooth paste. When I commented that it needed to be by ingestion they took out that part of the movie and left it up to your imagination as to how he got contaminated. They wanted to use Polonium in the movie as it was written in the original script however Polonium is not detectable by a geiger counter so I screwed up their plot and desire to use a geiger counter. It is also unrealistic to have detectable amounts of radiation in his daughters hair strands he got from the morgue. You win some you lose some...