Review of Edge of Darkness

It was almost a year ago exactly when I saw Taken. It was a revenge thriller that was less concerned with plot, and more concerned about pulse-pounding action sequences. Indeed, it was one of those movies where one could just sit back and enjoy the ride. And it worked quite well. This year, we have Edge of Darkness. It's a revenge thriller too, and it has some pretty decent action sequences as well. But it is also quite concerned with plot. And therein lies the problem. Darkness' plot becomes a bit too complex for its own good (perhaps as a result of it being adapted from a six-hour long BBC miniseries). And I don't mean too complex in that it becomes difficult to understand. It doesn't. I mean too complex in that, at times, it feels clunky and convoluted. Some of this had to do with the editing and the poor transitioning between scenes. There were actually a few places where I thought a commercial was about to come on. Then there's the seemingly endless assortment of characters, some of which felt as if they were purposeless (i.e. Emma's hood surfing friend, or the creepy senator). And the screenplay was sub-par, at best. But really, when it comes down to it, the biggest problem that Darkness had, is that much of what was taking place on screen just didn't seem believable. I think it would have served the makers of this movie well if they had learned a lesson from the makers of Taken. Often times, less is more. Especially when the "more" is not very well done.