Here's the comeback verdict: He's still good ol' Mel as an actor, which means a thinking man's butt-kicker, with motivations that run deep and fists that fly with righteous fury.
He's also an action star who can blend quirky humor into the mix without tarnishing the serious-minded stuff, but you won't find that here. In "Darkness," the only moments approaching comedy come with the suddenness of his violence.
You are on his side every step of the way. He plays Boston detective Tom Craven, welcoming his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) home after a long absence, only to see her assassinated by a drive-by shooter on his front porch.
The rest of the movie is investigation and revenge, as a stoic and saddened Craven works alone pursuing a tangled cover-up at the company where Emma worked. His police colleagues head down a different path, thinking the shooter meant to kill Craven.
There is too much formula here, with sinister executives and slimy politicians, but "Darkness" is based on a BBC mini-series and it shows. The same director, Martin Campbell, is at the helm, and the story is propelled more by gritty realism and interesting characters than the style-over-substance of so many American suspense thrillers.
It even brings along a character straight out of BBC: Ray Winstone as a cockney-accented sophisticate who "fixes" problems for power brokers. Winstone, like Gibson, finds deeper, more intriguing levels beneath the character's surface. Four Hearts.
THE BETTER HALF -- While I may not always agree with the way Mel Gibson acts in his personal life, the fact remains that on screen, he's a fine actor.
"The Edge of Darkness" is the first time in eight years that Gibson has been in front of the camera, and his performance here -- as in "Gallipoli" and "The Man with Two Faces" -- reminds us that Gibson is truly more than a pretty face.
Even more so now that his chiseled good looks are more crinkled, and he looks every bit his 54 years. To the filmmakers' credit, they had enough confidence in the older Gibson not to pair him with a younger sidekick or a love interest, like studios do so often with aging stars. So refreshing to see.
When Boston police detective Thomas Craven's (Gibson) 24-year-old visiting daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is brutally gunned down on his front porch, everyone assumes it was someone out for revenge on the detective.
Everyone but Craven, who starts to wonder just why Emma was so sick right before her murder, and exactly what her job was at Northmoor, a private nuclear energy company.
As Craven digs deeper, he uncovers corporate and political conspiracies and evils. But "The Edge of Darkness" momentum and power doesn't so much lie in what's uncovered, which is rather cliched, but rather the conflicted fury of a grieving father pursuing justice. Three-and-a-half Hearts.
Until next time, keep walking down the aisle ... Married to the Movies.
