With apologies to Jim Croce, you don't mess around with Mel.
Especially when he plays a dour police detective who watches his daughter get blown away right in front of him outside his Boston home in the new film "Edge of Darkness."
Yes, the movie is filmed in Massachusetts. Homers, rejoice. Look at the swan boats.
If Gibson were playing the mildly crazed Sgt. Martin Riggs of "Lethal Weapon" fame, the streets of Beantown would have been littered with bodies after the first 15 minutes. However, Gibson is more than 20 years older now, and his character in "Edge," though certainly tightly wound, prefers to investigate before popping off the perps.
That's just one of the problems with "Edge" if you're an action film fan. As the movie's two-hour mark approached, a fellow critic whispered in my ear, "When is Mel going to kill someone?"
Now if you like your movies more cerebral, "Edge" just might satisfy. The problem from this standpoint, however, is the film suffers from a serious case of obviousitis. You know who the bad guys are from the get-go, so surprises are few and thrills, for the most part, lacking.
In the deja vu department, Gibson has starred in vengeful-father films before, most notably the far superior "Ransom" (1996). Still, Mel is fun to watch when he's unhinged, and his Boston accent here isn't bad. At least he doesn't sound like a Kennedy or someone who confuses Back Bay with Bar Harbor.
"Edge" marks Gibson's first starring role since 2002's "Signs." Since then, he's directed "The Passion of the Christ" and "Apocalypto" and been arrested for speeding and drunken driving. He further damaged his image by hurling obscene, anti-Semitic remarks at the arresting officer and divorcing his wife of 28 years.
The curiosity factor surrounding this comeback might help the film's box office while the film's mediocrity just might offset it.
Not that "Edge" is a stuffing-filled gobbler. Director Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale") does manage to insert some suspense into the picture. And the cast, especially Ray Winstone as the mysterious operative Jedburgh, help elevate the film above B-movie status.
Based on a BBC series, also directed by Campbell, the movie opens with three bodies surfacing in the Connecticut River. Clearly, there's some malfeasance afoot. The film then segues to home movies of the exceedingly cute Emma Craven (Gabrielle Popa) as a young girl cavorting on the beach. Flash forward to the future and Emma, now all grown up (and played by Bojana Novakovic), has returned home to meet with her estranged father, Thomas (Gibson). But Emma apparently has some medical issues as she's throwing up and bleeding from the nose. Then her health takes a turn for the worse when her chest gets ripped apart by a shotgun blast.
