Edge of Darkness (2010) ***

Fresh from his anti-Semitism world tour Mel Gibson is back in the role that made him a star- a vengeful father seeking justice. Gibson stars as Thomas Craven, whose daughter (Bojana Novakovic) returns for a visit home only to be gunned down walking out the front door of his home. Distraught, Craven begins his own investigation that seems to go beyond the original idea of someone aiming for vengeance against him. We’re talking real hard core conspiracy here- something that may end up killing him as well.

Edge of Darkness is a nice thriller directed by that 007 savior Martin Campbell. Gibson hasn’t lost much of a step since we saw him last, though his Boston accent is a little too Boston if you ask me. The acting isn’t really a problem with Edge of Darkness; it boils down to the plot. The thing about a revenge movie such as this is that it’s a very basic formula. Let’s look at a few that came before it. Death Wish, for example, has Charles Bronson’s wife murdered, his daughter raped, and him on a rampage killing nameless thugs in the dead of the night. Let’s look at Mel’s Mad Max. The second half is basically his wife and son getting ran over by the Toe Cutter and his crew with Max snapping and picking them off one by one in the leathers that all the ladies like. Let’s do one more- Taken from a couple of years ago. Daughter goes to Europe, gets kidnapped, Liam Neeson shows up, shoots the wives of old friends, kills numbers of people, rescues daughter. Do you notice the basic pattern with these films? The key word in that last sentence is BASIC. Revenge isn’t a complicated matter. It’s rather simple when you get right down to it.

Where Edge of Darkness falters is that it becomes way too complicated for its basic premise. You’ve got a huge conspiracy with left wing whackos, the right wing whacko, and the national government in general. You’ve got hidden computers and dead witnesses. Instead of a lone act in the night causing a seemingly normal man to snap you get a huge conspiracy that even Woodward and Bernstein couldn’t crack. This premise is good for a political thriller, but not the vengeance tale that this bills itself as.

I know I’m being a little picky about this. It just seems like a cheat, trying to make itself look like Taken, but really playing like a poor man’s Tom Clancy. The complicated plot really drags the film down from a father trying to bring closure to his daughter’s death. It’s still an OK thriller, but that’s all. And who the hell was Ray Winstone supposed to be?