Welcome back Mel Gibson: Edge of Darkness
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 13 December 2009
Mel Gibson hasn’t had the best press recently. Shall we tell you how much we care about what Gibson gets up to in his private life? Not one jot. The man’s an actor; no one elected him president or pope. As far as The Guide is concerned, what he does off screen is his own damn business. What we do care about passionately is what he does on screen. And on screen, Mel never disappoints. He’s hands down one of our all-time favourite movie stars.
Since he literally blasted onto the scene in Mad Max, Gibson has given us one magnetic performance after enough. His portrayal of Martin ‘is he really crazy or not?’ Riggs in Lethal Weapon (the first one, before they turned the series into The Cosby Show) remains a work of genius. We certainly love watching Gibson ‘on the edge’ like that. Whether it’s turning the tables on his son’s kidnappers in Ron Howard’s Ransom or taking on the overwhelming might of the English army in his directorial debut Braveheart, Gibson excels in powerful, ‘against the odds’ roles.
Of late, he’s tended to add some welcome darkness into the mix too. Conspiracy Theory showed Gibson unafraid to challenge his audience by straying from the mainstream a little and he pushed this even further with the – hugely under-appreciated – Payback in 1999, a movie so dark that many people just didn’t get it.
Perhaps because of all the publicity around his private life, Gibson hasn’t been acting much of late. The last time we got to see him in a leading role was way back in 2002 as the Reverand Graham Hess in Signs.
And so we were absolutely delighted to chance upon his latest, due out next year: Edge of Darkness. It looks from the poster and trailer below that we’re in for a treat: Mel Gibson at his dark, unhinged best: a man determined to uncover the truth surrounding his daughter’s murder and extract justice for it, with absolutely nothing to lose in the process.
We can’t wait. Welcome back Mel.
Welcome back Mel Gibson: Edge of Darkness
Mel Gibson hasn’t had the best press recently. Shall we tell you how much we care about what Gibson gets up to in his private life? Not one jot. The man’s an actor; no one elected him president or pope. As far as The Guide is concerned, what he does off screen is his own [...]
6 Responses to “Welcome back Mel Gibson: Edge of Darkness”
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dailyintake
14 December 2009
yeah, great and a joy to watch him!
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Straight-Six
19 December 2009
I’m as mixed as a cocktail about ‘ol Gibson.
He’s definitely had his moments, and (much like The Prodigal Fool) I absolutely adored him in Payback, the first Lethal Weapon and Signs. But he’s had a large number of sell-out moments and I found him dreadfully miscast in Braveheart – a mediocre film at best.
His personal beliefs (and demons) came to the fore in films like The Passion of Christ and Apocalypto. Both gratuitously violent and bloody, reveling in the opportunity to use historical context to fulfill what appears to be a damned dark place within the big Aussie’s heart. That he plays it fast and loose with the facts is neither here nor there…
But I await his latest venture into fictional blackness as a welcome respite from his personal plunges, in the hopes we don’t have another Kevin Costner on our hands.
Win me back, Mel. I’m ready for it…
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I happen to know for a fact that you’re a closet “The Bodyguard” fan so I would ease of the Kevin Costner bashing if I were you.
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Straight-Six
21 December 2009
There was true romance in “The Bodyguard” and Costner out-acted Houston! You know, feelings and caring and….God, I think I’m going to be sick…:)
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[...] releases. Inglourious Basterds, Public Enemies, Shutter Island and Mel Gibson’s return in Edge of Darkness were all exciting enough to prompt a post. On the review front only three – very different – [...]
jes53n
13 December 2009
Mel is a great actor and director….. just like Clint Eastwood