Title: Edge of Darkness
Release Date: January 29, 2010
Genre: Political/Crime Thriller
Studio: Warner Bros.
Cast: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic, Shawn Roberts
Director: Martin Campbell
Producers: Graham King, Tim Headington, Michael Wearing
Website: http://edge-of-darkness.warnerbros.com/
Synopsis: “Edge of Darkness” is an emotionally charged thriller set at the intersection of politics and big business. Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a veteran homicide detective for the Boston Police Department and a single father. When his only child, twenty-four year-old Emma (Bojana Novakovic), is murdered on the steps of his home, everyone assumes that he was the target. But he soon suspects otherwise, and embarks on a mission to find out about his daughter’s secret life and her killing. His investigation leads him into a dangerous, looking glass world of corporate cover-ups, government collusion and murder – and to shadowy government operative Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who has been sent in to clean up the evidence. Craven’s solitary search for answers about his daughter’s death transforms into an odyssey of emotional discovery and redemption. (Source: Warner Bros.)
| Critic | Publication | Quote | Score |
| Roger Ebert | The Chicago Sun-Times | “Winstone’s interaction with Gibson provides the movie with much of its interest. For the rest, it’s a skillful exercise in CGI and standard-order thriller supplies. Gibson is a credible, attractive hero, as he has always been, so if you want fast-food action, here’s your movie.” Read the full review here. | 50% |
| Peter Travers | Rolling Stone | “The plot complications involving nuclear waste and political maneuvering have been trivialized beyond all meaning. But watching Gibson in a revenge fantasy feeds all my needs for a bloodlusting B-movie feast.” Read the full review here. | 67.5% |
| Owen Glieberman | Entertainment Weekly | “The more that Edge of Darkness reveals about the Corruption of America, the less it seems like anything but a conspiracy-of-the-week excuse to get Mel Gibson hot under the collar. His slow-burn fury keeps the movie going, but not enough to invest us in any justice beyond payback.” Read the full review here. | 80% |
| Keith Phipps | The Onion | “Edge Of Darkness gathers all the elements of a smart, politically resonant thriller, but leaves them only half-assembled. … [It] quickly devolves into another showcase for Gibson’s snorting-bull act, a routine he could happily have shelved during his time off.” Read the full review here. | 60% |
| A. O. Scott | The New York Times | “Edge of Darkness is reasonably well executed, but its competence reeks of fatigue. Another dead kid. Another angry dad. Another day at the office.” Read the full review here. | 60% |
| Critics’ Average: 63.5% |