By Shashank Saurav:
This is the exact situation depicted in Mel Gibson starrer Edge of Darkness. Mel Gibson returns after a hiatus in this enthralling edge-of-the-seat thriller that is a lesson for all the nations involved in the race for utilizing nuclear arsenal. Although banal at times the movie tends to set the pulse racing with its sententious script, imaginative direction and mesmerizing performances.
Detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is leading a normal life until his daughter Emma Craven arrives back suddenly to spend time with him and is shot down on his porch. The police put the blame on her father’s enemies and try to shut the case. But on further investigation detective Craven ends up unveiling a complicated case of corporate corruption that has not only consumed his daughter but now threatens to consume him as well. The corruption that we are dealing with here is with regards to the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Emma Craven seemed to be on a trail that would have helped her uncover the truth but instead she and two of her friends are gruesomely murdered. As the heinous intentions behind this plan are revealed, Mel Gibson realizes that he couldn’t be further away from nabbing the criminals.
Hit-men step onto the screen and light it ablaze. Gunshots are fired out of nowhere and one witnesses nuclear technology being used to kill people gradually. Mel Gibson makes a Herculean effort to bring justice to the sinners but someone else has the last laugh, though in an unorthodox manner.
Mel Gibson is pretty convincing and gritty while playing the role of an ageing detective and a melancholic father. He is impulsive and spontaneous in the scattered action sequences as well, though I would not deign to call him Brave Heart or the Patriot. Nevertheless, the suspense created by the dubious nuclear facility and malevolence of rapacious characters holds your attention and makes for an interesting watch.
The only flaw that can be pointed out is that the movie lacks pace in the middle. Also you will have to keep track of the onscreen events; you can’t simply lay back and watch the film.
Overall the film is captivating and engrossing. However if you plan to go and watch Mel Gibson reprise his role as the never falling war monger then you will return disappointed.
The writer is a correspondent of Youth Ki Awaaz and also a student of BITS – Pilani, Goa Campus.