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Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson, Danny Huston, Ray Winston, Caterina Scorsone

Five years ago, Mel Gibson was the darling of the religious right with the release of The Passion of the Christ. Any criticism of the Aussie movie star was a slap to the Lord and Savior himself. He was so popular among the ultraconservatives, that there were honest discussions in some circles that Gibson (who was born in New York), the father of seven children, had a promising political career ahead of him once he decided to leave acting behind. A conservative Roman Catholic who disagreed with the liberalization of the church after Vatican II, he even built his own church to worship in. Known for reaching out to help troubled stars like Robert Downing Jr. and Britney Spears, he seemed like a generally nice guy.

Then the balloon burst. On July 28, 2006 on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, Mel Gibson was pulled over in his Lexus LS 430 doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. After an evening of drinking Cazadores Tequila, the movie star was cooperative with the officers until they placed him under arrest, at which time he became belligerent, demeaning a female officer as “sugar t!ts” and screaming several anti-Semitic rants including, “F’ing Jews… Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world… Are you a Jew?” Gibson was charged with drunk driving because his blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, 0.04 over the legal limit. The booze was blamed. One little problem… he was drunk, but not that drunk. The normal person would have been in the bag, trashed but somewhat functional, but Gibson was a long term alcoholic who probably had a high tolerance level. The words that Mel shouted were in sentiment with his Holocaust denying father.

Publically, Gibson quickly issued a public apology, did the talk show circuit straight out of the Hugh Grant playbook and even met with Jewish leaders privately. Everyone deserves forgiveness for one slip up and who could not sympathize with someone in a long-term battle with Bacchus. Hell, God forgave King David for killing a man. One little problem, privately, Mel’s wife kicked him out of their house midst rumors of an affair and erratic behavior. Just recently the 53-year-old model Christian and grandfather knocked up his long-term younger girlfriend. Got to love those family values. Such conduct might even be too liberal for Vatican II Catholics. It certainly was for his fellow congregants at the Holy Family Chapel in Agoura Hills. According to reports, Mel lost it and went off on those gathered there for gossiping about his private life. Walking up to the altar, one person there stated, “It was a crazed rant He paced back and forth, furiously telling the congregation including two priests and a visiting bishop, that he would not stand by and be judged and scrutinized.” He then threatened to shut the church down if people did not stop wagging their tongues about his conduct. While it is not exactly Jesus’ turn the other cheek, if you pay the fiddler you get to call the tune. I am guessing his hot, former supermodel, Russian girlfriend was not wearing a dowdy skirt, prim blouse, flat shoes and a lace veil when she got pregnant, like female worshippers at the 9 am Mass are expected to wear when attending the church. (There are some great risque photos of the future Mrs. Gibson on the net if you are interested. Thank you Google.)

Given reports of erratic behavior throughout the last few decades, Mel Gibson is what might be clinically called bonkers, nuts, banana, a fruit loop, loco, cracked, two fries short of a Happy Meal, a few clowns shy of a circus, one twist short of a slinky, a few shades beyond blonde, or one accordion short of a polka band. All that being said, the man can sure make a good movie. Braveheart, Apocalypto, The Year of Living Dangerously, The Passion of the Christ, the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series, the man has attached himself to some good projects. While in semi-retirement, Mel continues to attach himself to interesting projects including a fourth Mad Max film, a biopic dealing with the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, a film version of Under and Alone which details ATF agent William Queen’s infiltration of the Mongol Nation motorcycle gang, and directing a historical drama about Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. The man knows quality.

Edge of Darkness is no different. Because, as Americans know, anything good or interesting that happened outside of this country never really happened. Most of the population has never heard of the 1985 BBC award-winning mini-series. Written in the depths of the Margaret Thatcher/Ronald Regan years, writer Troy Kennedy Martin was deeply concerned about a world run by “born-again Christians and Cold War warriors” that appeared to be spinning out of control. Much like Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, it was a fictional work meant to address the current political situation. It was a critical and popular success from the moment it aired, to the point where the BBC immediately re-aired the work to an even larger audience. In 2000, the British Film Institute ranked it as the fifteenth greatest British television series ever. For a thriller, it had a deep cultural influence on England.

Mel Gibson plays homicide detective Thomas Cravin, who is devoted to his activist daughter. Almost immediately upon a visit with her father, she becomes violently ill. Taking her to the hospital, as he is taking her in, a gunman gets out of a car and kills her with a shotgun. The police naturally believe it was a botched job by someone in organized crime trying to take out Thomas. Was the gunman trying to kill the Boston detective and his daughter just happened to be in the wrong place? This is what the Gibson character believes until he finds a Geiger counter among his daughter’s possessions and finds that it gets a reaction when waved over a lock of her hair. He knows that she was an employee of a nuclear power plant, but what is happening here? Was she killed in some kind of cover up? If so, what kind and who is involved?

Much like the BBC mini-series it is a great thriller as Mel gets to the bottom of what happened. Much like the original, there are sci-fi touches throughout as Gibson talks to his dead daughter and traces the conspiracy to the top.

Gibson does a great job, as always, trying to squeeze the six hour television event into a little over two hours. (The BBC show is not available on region 1 DVD yet, but if you have a chance, it is well worth watching and comparing to Gibson’s effort. As I say this, I mean buy an all-region DVD player and order the over-priced British series from England. In no way put on a pirate patch and download it illegally. That would be wrong.) While it is hard to separate the private lives of stars from their movies, whether it is Fatty Arbuckle, Errol Flynn, Tom Cruise or Mel, just like it is with any artist, the work in the end must rise and fall on its own. I would not like Mel Gibson on a personal level, but on a cinematic level, the crazy Aussie hits home run after home run and this time around I do not have to read subtitles.

Verdict: A Home Run