Edge of Darkness

2010

Action / Adventure / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller

79
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 49% · 215 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 49% · 250K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 102987 103K

assassination senator conspiracy theory cover-up murder police officer

Plot summary

As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.

Director

Martin Campbell Photo
Martin Campbell

Top cast

Wayne Duvall Photo
Wayne Duvall as Chief of Police
Mel Gibson Photo
Mel Gibson as Craven
Rick Avery Photo
Rick Avery as Robinson Jr.
Nico Evers-Swindell Photo
Nico Evers-Swindell as State Trooper #2
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
700.86 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 11
1.50 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 22

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by barbosa-vicki 7 / 10

A thriller with heart

I enjoyed this a lot, especially Gibson's role and Ray Winstone's portrayal of the ambiguous fixer. The ending is satisfying and a bit surprising. Someone said the ending was corny, which it may be, but I actually think it's true to life and what really happens at the end.Plenty of guys you love to hate, and the flashbacks of the hero with his child were lovely. I really doubt a US Senator would be so sleazy, but what do I know?Man, they sure want a lot of characters. Minimalism is my preferred style, so it's hard to think of things to say. I like Gibson, despite his personal problems, which are none of my business.
Reviewed by Theo Robertson 5 / 10

Over Simplified Film Version Of A Bleak Classic From The BBC

Brit TV shows turned in to Hollywood movies have a very mixed success . We've had PENNIES FROM HEAVEN , THE SINGING DETECTIVE and THE AVENGERS which were flops whilst TRAFFIC received much critical acclaim maybe because it did follow the channel 4 mini series plot structure so closely . I was more than willing to give EDGE OF THE DARKNESS the benefit of the doubt however . It is after all of the great dramas of the BBC where a ridiculous premise on paper featuring conspiracies , mysticism and the supernatural comes together to make great , dark , bleak and gloomy television . Perhaps the doubts were neutralized because after making that dark and gloomy chiller it kick started the career of director Martin Campbell who then went on to make Hollywood blockbusters including rebooting the tired James Bond franchise twice with GOLDENEYE and CASINO ROYALE . Surely Campbell being invited to direct the Hollywood version of EDGE boded well that the studio were going to treat this adaptation with some respect ? Unfortunately the problem with this version is that no matter how much love Campbell may have had for the material the director's vision seems nullified by studio executives . The whole film feels that large parts of narrative have excised or added without little rhyme or reason . In the original Craven has visitations from his dead daughter which on face value is taken by the audience as a hallucination . Except it's not - she is visiting him from the afterlife ! Early in the film Craven does here his daughter's voice but there's no supernatural angle to this this is never really followed up until the final scene which vaguely hints at an afterlife . The afterlife as an after thought ? There's another scene where Craven is in his kitchen , gets kidnapped by the spooks from Northmoor , escapes from Northmoor and is back in his kitchen again with absolutely no explanation as to what the previous sequence was about . Either someone has edited out an important plot detail or someone has failed to edit out a needless and confusing action sequence . One or the other The screenplay does suffer from being oversimplified . Unlike the BBC series by Troy Kennedy Martin this version is very much a straight forward conspiracy thriller devoid of an of the idiosyncratic , mind blowing and bizarre concepts that made the original so much more than just a mere thriller . Maybe we shouldn't be too critical of this since Gaia theory might be too " out there " for a mainstream international audience but what it means is if someone who saw the BBC version will be bitterly disappointed that this theme is not retained in the film version . To be honest screenwriter William Monahan is one of the weakest screenwriters in Hollywood today . KINGDOM OF HEAVEN had a disjointed script whilst THE DEPARTED is inferior to the tightly plotted INFERNAL AFFAIRS . It is noticeable that Monahan has included references to Gibson's other films such as WE WERE SOLDIERS and PASSION OF THE Christ but is post modernist self reference a good substitute for mind blowing original narrative ? It also leads to plot holes of why would a corporate nuclear company be selling nuclear weapons to hostile powers ? May be it was explained but much of the film it ended up in the cutting room floor ? Despite this there's several scenes where Craven confronts several characters :" Tell me . Why was my daughter murdered ? " " I can't . They'll kill me " " Tell me " " Okay I'll tell you " which suggests sloppy writing rather than editing blunders All in all this is a disappointment , though with hindsight perhaps because the original was so unique , a sort of depressing , nihilistic , hippy film noir that it would be wrong to expect this to be carried in to mainstream money orientated entertainment . That said if you like conspiracy thrillers and haven't seen the original then it's certainly okay popcorn fare . It also probably a film that is remembered for Mel Gibson's last feature in a starring role
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