Edge of Darkness

"You need to decide if you're hanging on the cross or banging in the nails."

Great line in a scorching comeback to the big screen from Mel Gibson, there too few genuine movie stars these days so it's great to see an old stager like Mel knock it out the park as Boston detective and grieving father Thomas Craven.

He's ably supported by Ray Winstone as the menacing and enigmatic Jedburg, their scenes together are the highlight of the movie. The other supporting characters kinda flit in and out while Danny Huston brings the loathable sleaze as the main bad guy.

Flitting in and out is perhaps the film's main weakness, a number of characters appear briefly as a plot link to give Craven a piece of info, and then they aren't involved again, or only reappear to get killed. This is the curse of adapting a TV mini series with a nearly 6 hour run time and is most glaringly evident in a pivotal scene with Jedburg.

Now "State of Play" avoided that pitfall masterfully, having not seen either mini series I can only imagine they did so by streamlining the material which may have been a wise idea here.

Despite this the story is still intriguing and engaging and Tom Craven's journey is an intense one that has you rooting for him all the way, there isn't a lot of action but what there is, is impactful, the use of sound and editing is first class and really drives home the death of Emma and the finale gun battle.

Speaking of the finale I am sure some will have found it too simplistic and indeed it could have been much smarter, but personally I found it satisfying.

7/10