Movie Review: Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Directed by Martin Campbell 

Written by William Monahan, Andrew Bovell 

Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston

Release Date January 29th, 2010

Published January 29th, 2010 

No one is likely to forget Mel Gibson's off-screen issues anytime soon, nor should they, he's awful. From his disturbing 'Passion' to his arrest and subsequent bashing of the Jewish people, Mel Gibson's private life has become very public and it affects everything the public perceives about him. All of this is part of what makes his performance in the thriller Edge of Darkness so remarkable.

Less than 10 to 15 minutes into what you are expecting to be a rather generic thriller, based on the somewhat innocuous title and vacuous TV campaign, Mel Gibson and director Martin Campbell make you forget, if only briefly, about Mel Gibson's character issues, focus on his movie character and the snaky, violent plot in front of him.

In Edge of Darkness Mel Gibson is Boston police detective Tommy Craven. He has just welcomed home his only child, Emma (Bojana Novakovic) and brought her home. The welcome is short-lived as Emma falls ill and Tommy rushes her to the hospital. That was the plan anyway, just as Craven opens the door to his home a man calls out his name and a shotgun blast blows Emma right back through the doorway.

The violence in this scene is quick and merciless and sets the tone for the rest of the picture. Naturally, Tommy will conduct his own investigation of his daughter's murder. From here you may expect Edge of Darkness to become predictable and fall into typical thriller beats. It does not, in fact Gibson and Director Campbell forcefully make moves in this plot to avoid the typical and drive toward a narrative filled with surprise and suspense.

Lost in all of Mel Gibson's off-screen issues is the fact that he has always been exceptionally talented. His intensity, his physicality, his self effacing humor have all played a role in defining him as an actor capable of moving audiences in many different ways. He makes use of all of his gifts in Edge of Darkness and crafts his best performance since Braveheart.

Director Martin Campbell is a rising star. He was the director who re-launched the Bond series with the adrenalin fueled Casino Royale. Campbell has always been a strong action director but in Edge of Darkness he takes great care to deliver a directorial style that is free of the typical action beats and gets right to point of each scene.

There is very little wasted effort in Edge of Darkness. Take a scene where Craven is kidnapped. We've been here before, we know what to expect. All of sudden the scene is over and we are back into the plot. No talking killer, very little dialogue at all. It's a minor tweak of what is expected but it seems any departure from the expected can be a welcome change in this day and age.

Edge of Darkness does not reinvent the thriller, it's just made better. Better performances, better direction and most importantly, better Mel Gibson. After wandering off the path of stardom with his unfortunate behavior, Mel Gibson is poised for a strong career third act. Let's hope that his off-screen stuff is behind him and more films with the quality and excitement of Edge of Darkness are ahead.

Movie Review: Casino Royale Starring Daniel Craig

Casino Royale (2006) 

Directed by Martin Campbell 

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis 

Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Dame Judi Dench 

Release Date November 17rh, 2006 

Published November 16th, 2006 

I've never been a big James Bond fan. I have always perceived OO7 to be my fathers kind of hero not mine, I'm more Han Solo than Bond. So I didn't get all that worked up over the controversy that surrounded the selection of a new James Bond and the unceremonious ouster of Pierce Brosnan. The most recent Bond flicks had begun to devolve into kitschy exercises in gadgetry and snark.

The new James Bond is a little more my style. Grittier, more violent, darker in tone than any of the other Bond pictures, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, is an action packed, quickly paced thriller with more in common with Jason Bourne than James Bond.

In this version of Ian Fleming's legendary spy series, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is a rising star in British Intelligence. Having just attained his double-oh status, James is a prickly thorn in the side of his superior M (Dame Judi Dench). On a mission in Africa, Bond killed a government witness in full view of witnesses and a security camera and, though the death was justifiable in context, the tabloids want someone to blame.

Rather than feeding the junior spy to the media, M sends Bond on holiday; knowing full well that he is not finished with his current mission. Tracking a terror target to the Bahamas, James reveals his talent for hold'em poker and his charm with the ladies by showing up a terror suspect at cards and then seducing the man's wife.

Eventually this trail leads Bond to a high stakes poker game in Montenegro where the world's leader in funding terror groups, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) is holding court. Le Chiffre is a highly competitive and seemingly unbeatable player. It is up to Bond and his government accountant Vesper Lind (Eva Green) to stop Le Chiffre from winning the money he needs to continue supporting terrorists.

That is a semblance of the plot of Casino Royale. The plot, of course, is superfluous to a movie so much more interested in looking cool. Director Martin Campbell and star Daniel Craig are the perfect combination of style and cool. With his cold blue eyes and chiseled physique, Craig is the most intimidating Bond in the franchise history. Director Martin Campbell makes great use of Craig's assets, placing him in more hand to hand combat than ever before and eliminating the series' stale reliance on gadgetry.

Danish actor Madds Mikkelson is a Bond villain not unlike Charles Gray's Blofeld, at least early in the film. Mikkelson's Le Chiffre is a hands off villain whose talent is moving money for far more dangerous villains. He's unlikely to get physically involved with Bond, especially one on one. As demonstration of his vulnerability, Le Chiffre cries blood when he's frustrated.

There is however, a torture scene where Le Chiffre shows a more sadistic side than any Bond villain has likely ever shown. I won't detail what happens in this scene, let's just say it involves that most sensitive part of the male anatomy. The torture scene along with some of the violent hand to hand combat left me wondering just how the MPAA gave Casino Royale a PG-13 rating. The hand to hand battles are brutal and bloody and the torture scene is nearly unbearable, not anything you want to take the kids to see or allow your young children to see on their own.

There is much that I enjoyed about Casino Royale; but, the film is not without noticeable flaws. At two hours and 20 minutes, Casino Royale desperately overstays its welcome. The movie ends atleast twice before finally resolving with a major sequel tease. Just as the film seems to be over for the first time, new villains are introduced out of the clear blue sky and with little to no connection to the main plot. That's irritating enough but when the film continues on with a second false ending, I nearly walked out in disgust.

There are a good 20 minutes, at least, that could be cut to make Casino Royale a leaner, more focused and far better film than it is.

The most exciting thing about Casino Royale is the absolutely extraordinary chase scene that opens the film immediately after the credits. As Bond and a fellow agent scope out an African bomb maker, Bond's partner accidentally tips off the bad guy and Bond is forced to give chase. The chase is one of the most mind blowing action sequences ever filmed as stuntman/actor Sebastein Foucan demonstrates a style of free running called Parkour that shows off his abilities as a human special effect. Foucan's leaps, jumps, dives and twists and his incredible speed make Jackie Chan look like Jackie Gleason.

I wanted more of Sebastien Foucan and would love to see him get together with Tom Tykwer for a Run Lola Run sequel. Foucan really steals the show in Casino Royale.

As always one of the most eye-catching things about a James Bond picture is the Bond babe and Eva Green, the sexpot star of Bertolucci's The Dreamers, really fits the bill. Though little is required of Green in terms of plot, character or action, she is terrific eye candy and that is the very least you can ask of a Bond babe. Yes, I know the term Bond babe is passe in this day and age, but what about Bond is not anachronistic in the age of the techno thriller.

An excellent debut for new Bond Daniel Craig, Casino Royale is a rollicking, old school action flick that could have ranked amongst the best action pictures of the decade with a little more work in the editing room. At nearly150 minutes Casino Royale is a chore to sit through, especially the irritating triple ending.  Still, Casino Royale contains just enough action and sex appeal to make for some terrific popcorn entertainment.

The film received a PG-13 rating but I do not recommend the film for kids under 18 years of age. The film is darkly violent with a callousness and brutality that belies the teen friendly rating. Parents use your discretion.

Movie Review Green Lantern

Green Lantern (2011) 

Directed by Martin Campbell

Written by Craig Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins

Release Date June 17th, 2011 

Published June 16th, 2011 

"Green Lantern" is the latest superhero story to hit the big screen following the spring adventures of "Thor" and the summer spectacular that was "X-Men: The First Class." "Green Lantern" however, is the first of these superhero flicks to feature a big star as the big hero. Ryan Reynolds, long on the road to superstar status, plays the heroic Green Lantern and while the casting is alright there was little any star could have done to improve the rather limp story.

Hal Jordan, Our Hero

Hal Jordan is a bed-hopping, test-pilot with serious daddy issues. So serious, in fact, are Hal's unresolved issues with his late father, that he nearly crashes his plane as he distractedly recalls his dad's death. Naturally, Hal comes through the crisis alright but not without angering his best friend, and would be love of his life, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively.)

Putting aside Hal's daddy and romantic issues, he is a special guy and we know this because a purple alien guardian from another world carrying a very powerful green ring and a green lantern tells us so. Of the billions of people on earth Hal Jordan has been chosen as humanity's protector, the newest member of the universal force known as the Green Lantern Corp.

The Green Lantern Corp

Soon, Hal has a special suit and mask that are made from -- well we aren't quite sure what. The suit seems to generate directly from Hal's own skin and the fewer questions asked about the suit's (ahem) functionality (?) the better. Through his alien ring and lantern Hal can now create anything he wants using only his mind.

If we go with Hal to his training on a distant planet we are just asking for this plot description to grow far too unwieldy and since the plot isn't great to begin with let's just leave it at special voice appearances by Geoffrey Rush, Michael Clark Duncan and go to bad guy Mark Strong as sort of a good guy.

Peter Sarsgard is creepy

Back on earth Hal will have to defend humanity against a former colleague and friend, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgard) who has contracted an alien infection that somehow managed to make him even creepier than the massively foreheaded, dweeby, community college professor he already was.

There is also a good deal of nonsense related to a giant monster cloud of what I believe is fear energy combined with some all powerful alien creature. Honestly, I stopped caring so early on in "Green Lantern" that I tuned out whatever wasn't Ryan Reynolds being cute and Blake Lively flashing her beautiful, "Gossip Girl" half smile; truly is there a woman in the world who is so attractively bemused?

Fanboys Only

"Green Lantern" was directed by Martin Campbell who is an immensely talented director. Here, however, Campbell hits the wall with far too much fanboy nonsense and not nearly enough stuff that's interesting to people who aren't in fealty to the D.C Comics legend. I assume, because I am not familiar with the comic, that much of the stuff I found goofy and nonsensical was some kind of homage or nod to the faithful? How else do you explain it?

The thing about a great superhero movie like "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" or "Spiderman 1 & 2" or the "Iron Man" movies is they were good movies first and comic book movies second. The best of the genre add the fan touches on the sides in the periphery. "Green Lantern," like "Thor," places the comic book stuff first and in doing so leaves the non-comic fan distracted and waiting for the actual story to kick in.

Not Recommended for General Audiences

When the story never really kicks in it only serves to magnify why the filmmakers included all of the comic book stuff, they didn't have enough of a compelling original story to push the fanboy stuff to the sides. I liked Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively and the voice of Geoffrey Rush, as some kind of muscled up alien fish, but in the end that is not enough for me to recommend "Green Lantern" to a general audience.

Now, if you are a fan of the comic book Green Lantern, I do recommend the movie. You are going to get it on another level. You will enjoy the stuff I found goofy and or needless. You will get the stuff that I found distracting. You, Green Lantern fan, may just really enjoy this movie and bully for you. Enjoy.