RSSMel Gibson and “Edge of Darkness”
Gene Lalor | February 8, 2010
Variously rated as a 55% to 60% by “the critics,” this non-professional movie critic assigns Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness a qualified 3 1/4 stars or about 85%.
The movie is somewhat derivative of many previous kid-gets-killed/hurt/kidnapped/lost and dad-seeks-revenge/return of kid and it’s based on an old Brit telly series but, after all is said and done, it does feature Mel Gibson in the starring role.
I’ll leave the detailed reviews and spoilers to others more able than I, although the reader is cautioned to vet the reviewer before believing anything she or he writes or says.
Believe it or not, sometimes movie reviews are determined by the sociopolitical beliefs of the reviewer as much as by the content and quality of the film.
Think Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ
That very controversial, exceedingly graphic and violent film, was roundly panned with one star or no stars at all and scored an overall rating of 47%-50% mainly because it was interpreted by some as anti-Semitic and condemned by Jewish groups such as B’nai B’rith.
If anything, it was anti-Roman and anti-Italian and should have been criticized by the Sons of Italy, although it wasn’t. What it was was a billion dollar blockbuster at the box office and in DVD sales.
The charges of anti-semitism levelled at Gibson as a result of his July, 2006 drunken encounter with police ratcheted up a DUI a major scandal. He conceded his intemperate and biased remarks and followed that incident with far more publically-grievous behavior with Oksana Grigorieva with whom he had a child after divorcing his wife of 29 years.
Bottomline is that Mel Gibson is no saint and never has been. Another bottomline is that he’s still a committed conservative and Edge of Darkness reflects that commitment, albeit indirectly.
The film centers on the themes of justice and retribution, exposes the United States government as darkly involved with conspiracies and collusion, and manages to insert catnip for conservatives in various ways, from pictures of George Bush to product placement, to pre-Scott Brown swipes at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The pointed and repeated line, “Nothing is legal in Massachusetts,” is alone reason enough to see the film.
One misguided reviewer for Big Hollywood makes mention of Edge taking a “lefty turn” by exposing “the evils of nukes and corporations,” a liberal stereotype suggesting all conservatives share a Strangelovian affection for Armageddon and a Gordon Gekko affinity for greed run amok: http://bit.ly/bS6tV5
The best conservative treat of all are scenes involving a reporterette and a videotape.
Early in the film she shyly and apologetically seeks an interview with the grieving Gibson character, Detective Tom Craven, and is gently turned away. Edge of Darkness concludes with the same reporter receiving an incriminating videotape from Craven which promises to blow the lid off the whole smarmy conspiracy.
The only reporter and the only media outlet he trusts to disseminate the tape in a fair and balanced fashion? A girl from the Fox News Network,
of course, the bane and arch-enemy of the Obama administration.
Sweet.
Welsome back, Mel!
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