Edge of Darkness

Directed by Martin Campbell

(R)

**

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Mel Gibson seeks revenge—and professional resurrection.

Edge of Darkness is just “what its Hollywood producers meant it to be: a serviceable star vehicle for Mel Gibson,” said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. It’s been eight years since the actor has had a starring role. In the interim, he’s directed films steeped in controversy and been caught drunkenly spewing anti-Semitic bile. In an attempt to resurrect his acting career, Gibson leads the cast of this “relentless, by-the-numbers” thriller as a cop who seeks revenge after his daughter’s murder. It’s hardly new territory for the actor, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. He’s spent much of his career, from Mad Max to The Patriot, looking for payback. Yet here he seems to be playing a “slightly crazier version of himself.” The plot often comes off as little more than an excuse for Gibson to “beat the crap out of bad guys.” Edge of Darkness isn’t Gibson’s best work, but it suggests he’s still worth watching, said Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. Movies are “designed to make us forget our troubles; this one is designed to make us forget his.”