This weekend Mel Gibson’s acting career was relaunched with Edge of Darkness and if there is one good thing I can say about this, it’s that it may direct a new generation of viewers back to director Martin Campbell’s original BBC mini-series. A real product of its time, the 1985 Edge of Darkness dramatised the claustrophobic opression and fear and mistrust that many of us remember feeling towards the Establishment during that long Thatcher winter.
Bob Peck was policeman Craven and the slaughter of his daughter (Joanne Whalley) on her first night back home led him on a trail of spies, government agencies, rogue American agents, all in pursuit of plutonium and, for Craven, the truth about a daughter he finds he knows nothing about. Thgere were many memorable scenes, but it’s hard to forget Joe Don Baker’s press conference party trick – pulling plutonium from his case and waving it around like a lump of cheese. The series had complex plotting, twists, wit and bits that coud pull your heart from your chest – especially when grief-stricken Craven goes through his daughter’s belongings, finding things that mapped her growth from happy child and normal teenager into a stranger and someone with a gun by her bed.
In its day, Edge of Darkness was a major contributor to the genre of polical thriller and it has most certainly stood the test of the years while being a valuable reminder of its own time. It’s dificult to see how a new version, with some things kept, other things not, can have anything to add. The original series is available on DVD (for not much more than £4 in the UK). It’s well worth a revisit or a first encounter.
Great stuff, enjoyed it in 1985
Thanks, Derek. Me too, and I’ve watched it several times since. I love Bob Peck in the role – the new version seems wrong on so many (Mel Gibson) levels!
I have just ordered the DVD of the original so I can see it again but I am giving Mel a miss I think!
That’s great! I must see it again too. I think the only reason why I may see Mel’s version is my love for Boston, a fabulous city, but we’ll see.
I saw the complete original series for the first time last year (husband loved it when it first came out, and was extatic to find it on DVD…), and really enjoyed it. The music was great too — it really helped set the mood in several scenes. Eric Clapton!!!
I think they need to change A LOT of the storyline to make it work in 2010. We fear other things today…
Anna, great to see you here!
I’d forgotten how good the music was, but yes the whole atmosphere of the piece was so evocative. Hard to reproduce.
I saw “Edge of Darkness” this weekend. I was only vaguely aware that there had been a TV series of that name, and assumed it was an American one. I didn’t know until reading WDW’s review that the series was English. Would I have seen the series on DVD if I had known? I doubt it. I don’t watch American TV at all, so reaching abroad is an even further stretch into the unlikely.
Anyway, there are some beautiful, poignant scenes between father and daughter in the film. I live in Boston. Roslindale, where the Cravens live, is only a couple miles from where I live. There’s a beautiful scene in the Public Garden where Craven sits on a bench and watches the swan boats. He is still badly shaken from his daughter’s death. He hears her voice, and says, “I can’t go on.” “Daddy, you have to go on,” she replies.
As it turns out, he does get his revenge, but it is pyrrhic at best.
It’s not a great movie, but it’s a good one. It doesn’t have to be able to *add* anything to a series that many Americans may not even have known the existence of, any more than “All in the Family” added anything to “Coronation Street.”
All things being equal, I’d rather have Mel Gibson acting than sitting around waiting to erupt. When he’s acting, the studio (if it’s wise) arranges for someone to keep an eye on him and make sure he’ll be able to finish his work. He needs a keeper. Maybe the character of Craven was not a big stretch for him.
Kate, we shouldn’t forget that Martin Campbell directed the new version. Regardless of what we think of the Mel (horrible human being but good actor, IMHO) the film has the kernal of the outstanding Troy Kennedy Martin script matched with one of our finest action directors. That if nothing else makes it worthy of our attention.
Paul, thanks so much for this – made me realise how much I was approaching the film from such a Brit perspective – which isn’t that surprising, I suppose. But I do like to hear another opinion. And thank you for your emails
Hi Rob! I didn’t see you comment schnuck in like that… Agreed, it’s one of the things that caught my attention – and surprise – that Martin Campbell did this – and that it is him partnered with Mel. That is a big part of what makes it such an intriguing – and, for me – perplexing remake. And how much of this was to do with Mel’s recreation of himself? It’s very interesting.
I still don’t wanna see it…. I will see it on DVD to compare the script/story. Not much chance to see it at the pictures near me.
Mel… I have very mixed feeling about him. A couple of his films are among my favourites. A couple of his characters have really made me care, very intensely about their fate. But as for actor Mel? I’ll always be suspicious about him/his films until his acting wins me over, on occasion.
I like Boston though