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RATING:  
SINGAPORE : It's directed by the man who gave us the successful "Bond" franchise-revitalising Casino Royale and stars a fallen Hollywood top dog leading actor-director in his first role in eight years.
Throw in the fact that it's also a remake of an award-winning 1985 BBC cult-classic miniseries director Martin Campbell himself helmed 25 years ago, that should be three big enough reasons to go watch Mel "I-am-a-drunk-not-a-racist" Gibson's latest action thriller Edge of Darkness.
But is it really?
Veteran homicide detective Thomas Craven's (Gibson) daughter is gunned down on the doorstep of his own house. It's not a simple hit as the widower finds out during his quest to avenge her, as he unravels an insidious web of corruption, corporate cover-up, eco-warriorism and of course danger, danger, danger.
This is as entertaining action as vigilante revenge flicks come. Gibson works (perhaps guiltily) hard to maintain the emotion of a parent who has lost a child amid all the wham-bam action. But even with Mel's familiar passionate grit and grief acting, one can't seem to shake off the uneasy feeling that it seems dated.
The writers' effort to contemporise the original's Cold War espionage and arms race with terrorism of the political and eco-green energy kind is commendable. But the archaic paranoia of nuclear weapons, radiation and government villains are all still there.
That said, the supporting cast keeps the action machine chugging dramatically.
Couple that with just enough raucous shoot-outs to make hardcore action fans happy, and just enough corruption conspiracy to keep the rest intrigued, this is one film that is still worth seeing.
- TODAY/rs
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