Edge of Darkness is a 2010 conspiracy action thriller film directed by Martin Campbell, written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell, and starring Mel Gibson and Ray Winstone. A British-American co-production, it is based on the 1985 BBC television series of the same name, which was likewise directed by Campbell. This was Gibson's first screen lead since Signs (2002), and follows a detective investigating the murder of his activist daughter, while uncovering political conspiracies and cover-ups in the process. It was released on 29 January 2010. It received mixed reviews from critics, though Gibson's and Winstone's performances were praised, and grossed $81 million against its $80 million production budget which made it a box-office bomb.

Plot

At South Station, Boston, homicide detective Thomas Craven picks up his daughter Emma, who comes home to visit and vomits while getting into the car. As Craven prepares dinner at home, Emma suffers a nosebleed and vomits again. When they step outside the house to go to a hospital, a masked gunman yells "Craven!" and fatally shoots Emma with a shotgun blast. The attacker escapes as Craven attends to his daughter, who dies in his arms. While formally identifying Emma's body, Craven takes a lock of her hair as a memento, then returns to duty to help find out who wanted to kill him. When he discovers that Emma had a .45 pistol in her nightstand, he starts to suspect that Emma was the target. He checks the gun's ownership, and finds it belongs to her boyfriend, David. David is living in fear of Northmoor, a weapons company where he and Emma worked, and he refuses to talk, but gives Craven the key to Emma's apartment. Craven searches Emma's apartment, and finds a Geiger counter. He discovers the lock of Emma's hair is radioactive. Craven visits Jack Bennett, the CEO of Northmoor. Northmoor leases a research and development facility from the U.S. government. Bennett claims the firm is working on clean nuclear energy, but refuses to go into detail. He inquires rudely about Craven's feelings after Emma's death. Craven repeatedly has visions of Emma's past, including short conversations, typically as the happy young child he remembers and loves. Burning Emma's clothing in his backyard, Craven suddenly turns to find Jedburgh, a British "consultant". Jedburgh was tasked with preventing the disclosure of the information Emma had and tying up any loose ends, including her father. Jedburgh takes a liking to Craven, leaving him to investigate. Craven eventually discovers through one of Emma's activist friends, who is nearly killed by a Northmoor agent, that Bennett ordered Emma's murder, as well as those of the other activists Emma was working with to expose Northmoor. Northmoor is secretly manufacturing nuclear weapons using foreign designs. The weapons were intended to be linked with foreign nations if they were used by the United States as dirty bombs. Craven confronts U.S. Senator Jim Pine, who was contacted earlier by Emma, revealing that Craven knows almost everything that happened. After examining Emma's fridge with the Geiger counter, Craven discovers that her milk is radioactive. Craven also falls sick. He is abducted by Northmoor agents, and wakes up handcuffed to a gurney in the Northmoor facility, but manages to escape. His health deteriorating rapidly from radiation poisoning, Craven heads to Bennett's house, and kills the Northmoor agents after forcing one of them at gunpoint to shout "Craven", finally identifying him as Emma's killer. Bennett shoots and wounds Craven, but Craven also wounds Bennett and forces some of the radioactive milk down his throat. Bennett attempts to take some pills to counteract the radioactivity, but Craven tells Bennett he deserves what's coming to him and fatally shoots him. Jedburgh meets with the Senator and two political advisers who had hired Jedburgh to handle Craven. They want to spin the Northmoor incident in a positive light. Jedburgh suggests that portraying it as an assassination attempt on the Senator could be an angle to keep Bennett's death out of the headlines. They are pleased with this idea until Jedburgh abruptly kills both advisers and the senator. When a young police officer nervously enters the Senator's room, Jedburgh asks the officer at gunpoint if he has children. When the officer replies yes, Jedburgh lowers his gun, allowing the officer to shoot him dead. While Craven lies dying in the hospital from his wounds and radiation poisoning, a young reporter for the local TV station, who had spoken to Craven a few nights earlier, opens a letter from him which contains DVDs recorded by Emma revealing the conspiracy. As Craven dies, the spirit of Emma comforts him. The ghosts of Craven and Emma are then shown leaving the hospital together, walking down the corridor and toward a bright, white light.

Cast

Production

In 2002, Martin Campbell announced that he was planning to adapt Edge of Darkness for the cinema. Active development began in early 2007 when Campbell met with producer Graham King, who first enlisted Australian playwright Andrew Bovell to write, and then William Monahan (fresh from winning an Academy Award for King's The Departed) to re-write the screenplay. Michael Wearing and BBC Films also co-produced the film. Filming began on 18 August 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts. A scene where Craven scatters his daughter's ashes at a beach was filmed at Rockport on 25 and 26 September. They shot some scenes in Merrimac, Massachusetts from 15 September 2008 to 18 September 2008. Additional scenes were shot in Malden, Massachusetts in the old Malden hospital. Some of the final scenes were shot at a home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Additionally, Gibson and his crew set up shop for filming in western Massachusetts, with 180 staff staying in Northampton hotels. They shot in various locations in the Pioneer Valley, including Tully O'Reilly's Pub, the Northampton Athletic Club, and an older part of the Hampshire County Courthouse, all in Northampton. Also, Sugarloaf Mountain was shut down for a few days while they rented it out. They also filmed at the Notch Visitor Center, Rt. 116, Amherst, and right across the street from the Visitor Center, buried in Bare Mountain, The Notch Cold War Bunker stood in for the main entrance of the Northmoor facility. The film takes place in America, unlike the television series, which was based in England. "The idea was to transfer the story to a different time and place rather than just repeat what we did in England," Campbell said. "Boston seemed like the perfect location because it does have a whole English, Irish signature on it." The film was originally scored by classical composer John Corigliano. However, the decision was made during postproduction (after Corigliano's score had been recorded and dubbed) to replace his score with a new one by Howard Shore.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 217 reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "For better and for worse, Edge of Darkness offers vintage Mel Gibson, working within the familiar framework of a bloody revenge thriller." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score 55 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Film critic Richard Roeper gave the film a grade of "B", stating: "Gibson excels in this entertaining conspiracy thriller." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "An intense Mel Gibson performance anchors this brutally effective crime thriller." Some critics, such as A.O. Scott of The New York Times, saw a similarity to Taken. Other critics, such as Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips, and New Orleans Times-Picayune film critic Mike Scott, described Ray Winstone's character in the film as "intriguing."

Box office

On its first weekend, the film opened number two, grossing $17.1 million behind Avatar. The film went on to gross $43.3 million in the United States and Canada and $37.8 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $81.1 million, against a production budget of $80 million.

Home media

The film was released by Warner Home Video on 11 May 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray.