Film review by Sachin Chatte

Film: Edge of Darkness

Cast: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone

Directed by: Martin Campbell

Duration: 117 minutes

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

 From the director of Bond films like ‘Golden Eye’ and ‘Casino Royale’ comes a riveting thriller and certainly one of the better we have seen from Hollywood this year. Based on a television series, the story may not be exactly unique but it is the execution that keeps you entertained throughout the film.

It is based on a six part television series and in all fairness, Campbell has done a good job of condensing it.

Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a cop whose daughter has just come home for a vacation. She shows signs of being unwell but very soon, in an extremely effectively picturised sequence, she gets killed. Initially, it is assumed that the father was the target but gradually a sinister plot begins to unfold.

Craven is shattered after her death but that doesn’t deter him from investigating the matter. Very soon it is clear, that he was not the intended target and decides to get to the bottom of it. The conspiracies start revealing which involve a private company doing Government work and a rather dubious hustler (Ray Winstone) who gets in touch with Craven regarding the same issue.

Towards the end, the plot does become a bit predictable because we have films on similar lines before. From that point of view, ‘Edge of Darkness’ doesn’t offer too many surprises but because it does the basics well, it keeps you engaged. Since it is an adaptation, there is very little that the film makers can do and even though an ending involving environmental concern and mysticism was considered, they stuck to a more traditional one.

The editing of the film is taut and Campbell also manages to pull off some scenes from time to time which make you take notice. He also manages to extract some fine performances from his cast. Ray Winstone as the shady guy is aptly cast. ‘Passion of the Christ’ (followed by ‘Apocalypto’) was Mel Gibson’s last major film venture and in the last few years he has had a tough time in his personal life. But here he has put up a splendid performance and it is good to see the man who almost went bonkers in real life, back on track. Not the best, but most certainly one of the better flicks seen in recent times.

Time pass effort

Film: The A Team

Cast: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel

Directed by: Joe Carnahan

Duration: 117 minutes

Rating: * * 1 / 2

This is another film that is based on a television series and on the whole, it is more or less a typical modern day American film –Pretty decently packaged but very little depth.

A bunch of army guys coming together to clear their name could have become a nice comic adventure of sorts – It does that, but just about.

Col John Smith (Liam Neeson in a rather unusual role) along with Lt. Peck (Bradley Cooper), Bosco (Quinton Jackson) and Murdock (Sharlto Copley) are Rangers who get together and successfully execute quite a few missions. Now, the quartet is in Iraq and they have one major assignment on their hand – To recover the dollar plates that were used to print billions of dollars of currency.

While they manage to do it after a bit of sweat, they also get implicated in the mission and since it was a top secret one and there is nobody to rescue them.

They are stripped of their titles and sent to prison and you can certainly expect them to do a jailbreak and then catch the bad guys. Jessica Biel is the glamour quotient who also plays Lt Pecks love interest and that track in the plot was totally unnecessary.

While there is plenty of action and adventure involved, most of it is the standard stuff that you expect.

On the acting front, Liam Neeson does well in an action role. Sharlto Copley who did a wonderful job in ‘District 9’ stands out again. All in all, if you find mediocre films to be good, you can give this a shot.

P.S.- A word about the rating for this film which has got an Adult certificate from the censors. For the life in me, it is hard to understand what the censor board found so offensive. It is not the first and surely not the last time that they have acted in a strange manner. Surely, kids nowadays see far worse things on television and even some Hindi films that get away with a ‘U’ certificate. But as the French would say, c’est la vie…