Tagline: Some secrets take us to the edge.
Curiosity: My baby girl picked this one. She’s got a nose for date movies.
Plot: When Emma Craven (Bojana Novakovic) is gunned down, everyone assumes the killer meant to take out her father,
Maybe.
Thoughts: Mel Gibson has developed a reputation over the last decade or so for being crazy. And Anti-Semitic. And racist. And, I don’t know, averse to puppies or some shit. Point is, some folks hate him for being a big jerk-butt. But I still kind of dig his movies. Yeah, Passion of the Christ was a bit much and Apocalypto was a bit historically inaccurate/racist (yet still oddly watcheable), but I’m still down with ol’ Gibby kicking the snot out of bad guys, which is something Edge of Darkness eventually gets around to delivering.
But man does it take a while to get there.
For a while, the film recycles Thomas’s lapse into madness, as he hallucinates conversations with his deceased daughter as a child. It’s effective the first time. Not so much the 20th time. Then he interviews someone connected to Emma that’s so clearly, totally in on her death. I love Danny Huston, but he’s so clearly the lead bad guy from the beginning that every scene with him drags. JUST SHOOT HIM.
But that’s kind of the point of the film. As Thomas learns, having the facts isn’t as important as being able to manipulate them to one’s purposes. It’s an interesting perspective that ultimately leads to one big deus ex machine. But for a while, Edge of Darkness gets by on the principal cast’s performances. Oh, and the ridiculous violence. Emma flies like 10 feet when she gets shot. A key witness gets hit by a car at a moment when there could not conceivably have been a car coming. Shit just happens because it looks cool.
Reflection: Next time we’re watching Star Trek. Or Hard Rock Zombies.
No comments:
Post a Comment