GK Films, BBC Films, Icon Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures

Written By: William Monahan and Andrew Bovell, adapted from the BBC Mini-Series written by Troy Kennedy-Martin

Faced with the sudden, bloody death of his daughter at his doorstep, Mel Gibson sets out to answer the questions surrounding her death in “Edge Of Darkness”. Gibson’s return to the big screen has been delayed and stuttered by a handful of well-documented controversies in his personal life, as well as his making of two controversial films, 2004′s “The Passion Of The Christ” and 2006′s “Apocalypto”. Clearly, “Edge…” is arriving with an agenda; namely, rehabilitate Gibson in the court of public opinion and show that he remains, despite his public embarrassments of recent years, a bankable action star who can deliver the goods. And the answer as to whether this is successful in meeting that agenda is, well…maybe.

Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a hardened Boston police detective (with accent to match), who is on pins and needles at the train station, waiting for his daughter’s long overdue return home. Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is a young, smart, recent college graduate is so thankful to be home that Craven is humbled to see her so happy. However, things quickly become troubling for Craven as Emma shows signs that she might be terribly ill – succumbing to bouts of vomiting and sudden nosebleeds. As her first night back home leads to some dire medical circumstances, Craven and Emma leave to head to the ER. As soon as the door opens, the last name “Craven” is shouted from someone in a dark vehicle and Emma is gunned down immediately. (Editor’s note: This death occurs in the trailer – so no spoiler alert given…)

From this point on, the stunning opening sequence dovetails into rather familiar and paint-by-numbers movie storytelling. Craven is despondent but shows up to work the next day. He is told he is too close to the case, and it is assigned to another detective. Craven decides that he is going to do his own parallel investigation and take matters into his own hands. Wasting its opening act thrills, “Edge of Darkness” is really premised upon a film you have seen dozens of times, most commonly within the last 20 years or so.

What keeps the film afloat are a handful of intriguing elements in the storyline, which arrive courtesy of Martin Campbell’s adaptation of his own 1985 award-winning BBC 6-part miniseries of the same name. Oscar winning screenwriter WIlliam Monahan (The Departed) collaborates on an adaptation that seems to fail more than succeed on compressing 6 hours of movie into 2. In support of the film, Campbell has cast some interesting role players to flesh out his adaptation.

Ray Winstone arrives with a whispery, gravelly British accent and becomes the mysterious man in the shadows who refuses to reveal whether he is friend or foe to Gibson’s character and research. Emma, we learn, worked for Northmoor, a government weapons contractor, and she has unearthed some damning information about its business dealings. As the mysteries unfold, Gibson’s investigation uncovers connections to illegal and deplorable business practices within Northmoor and specifically in the dealings of its chairman (a well-cast Danny Huston). How far up the ladder the corruption goes becomes the dominate theme of not only Craven’s investigation, as well as within the film. For every positive step forward, the film leaps back into safe and familiar trappings, common to the whistle-blowing conspiracy-laden thriller which are all too frequent in the last 20 or so years.

With its mixture of action, suspense, and some eye-rolling final scenes, “Edge of Darkness” delivers formula and familiarity, yet is engaging enough to rope you into playing along for most of its running time. Gibson asserts himself passably well and clearly loves being back in front of the camera. We will see where it all goes from here. Thankfully for him and his fans, “Edge of Darkness” allows him to just act again. And for stretches of time, we are reminded just why and how he became such a big movie star in the first place.

Should I See It?

Engaging suspense films, when executed well, are usually a pretty good time. This is a pretty good time.

Even with its formulaic happenings, there are a couple of gotcha moments and some interesting twists that make this a much different film than the action-heavy promotion would indicate.

Mel Gibson still has a huge fan base. This is candy for the Gibson sweet tooth if you are in that camp.

This is nothing too original. In 1985, the ideas and concepts were novel and fresh with the BBC mini-series, here much of the storyline feels recycled and remade.

To warn sensitive viewers: There is a fair amount of blood spilled in the film. The degree of violence on screen is arguably unnecessary.

If you are not a fan of Mel Gibson, or are bored with the government-is-evil conspiracy film, you might want to move along.