Brit TV shows turned in to Hollywood movies have a very mixed success . We've had PENNIES FROM HEAVEN , THE SINGING DETECTIVE and THE AVENGERS which were flops whilst TRAFFIC received much critical acclaim maybe because it did follow the channel 4 mini series plot structure so closely . I was more than willing to give EDGE OF THE DARKNESS the benefit of the doubt however . It is after all of the great dramas of the BBC where a ridiculous premise on paper featuring conspiracies , mysticism and the supernatural comes together to make great , dark , bleak and gloomy television . Perhaps the doubts were neutralized because after making that dark and gloomy chiller it kick started the career of director Martin Campbell who then went on to make Hollywood blockbusters including rebooting the tired James Bond franchise twice with GOLDENEYE and CASINO ROYALE . Surely Campbell being invited to direct the Hollywood version of EDGE boded well that the studio were going to treat this adaptation with some respect ?
Unfortunately the problem with this version is that no matter how much love Campbell may have had for the material the director's vision seems nullified by studio executives . The whole film feels that large parts of narrative have excised or added without little rhyme or reason . In the original Craven has visitations from his dead daughter which on face value is taken by the audience as a hallucination . Except it's not - she is visiting him from the afterlife ! Early in the film Craven does here his daughter's voice but there's no supernatural angle to this this is never really followed up until the final scene which vaguely hints at an afterlife . The afterlife as an after thought ? There's another scene where Craven is in his kitchen , gets kidnapped by the spooks from Northmoor , escapes from Northmoor and is back in his kitchen again with absolutely no explanation as to what the previous sequence was about . Either someone has edited out an important plot detail or someone has failed to edit out a needless and confusing action sequence . One or the other
The screenplay does suffer from being oversimplified . Unlike the BBC series by Troy Kennedy Martin this version is very much a straight forward conspiracy thriller devoid of an of the idiosyncratic , mind blowing and bizarre concepts that made the original so much more than just a mere thriller . Maybe we shouldn't be too critical of this since Gaia theory might be too " out there " for a mainstream international audience but what it means is if someone who saw the BBC version will be bitterly disappointed that this theme is not retained in the film version . To be honest screenwriter William Monahan is one of the weakest screenwriters in Hollywood today . KINGDOM OF HEAVEN had a disjointed script whilst THE DEPARTED is inferior to the tightly plotted INFERNAL AFFAIRS . It is noticeable that Monahan has included references to Gibson's other films such as WE WERE SOLDIERS and PASSION OF THE Christ but is post modernist self reference a good substitute for mind blowing original narrative ? It also leads to plot holes of why would a corporate nuclear company be selling nuclear weapons to hostile powers ? May be it was explained but much of the film it ended up in the cutting room floor ? Despite this there's several scenes where Craven confronts several characters :
" Tell me . Why was my daughter murdered ? "
" I can't . They'll kill me "
" Tell me "
" Okay I'll tell you "
which suggests sloppy writing rather than editing blunders
All in all this is a disappointment , though with hindsight perhaps because the original was so unique , a sort of depressing , nihilistic , hippy film noir that it would be wrong to expect this to be carried in to mainstream money orientated entertainment . That said if you like conspiracy thrillers and haven't seen the original then it's certainly okay popcorn fare . It also probably a film that is remembered for Mel Gibson's last feature in a starring role
Unfortunately the problem with this version is that no matter how much love Campbell may have had for the material the director's vision seems nullified by studio executives . The whole film feels that large parts of narrative have excised or added without little rhyme or reason . In the original Craven has visitations from his dead daughter which on face value is taken by the audience as a hallucination . Except it's not - she is visiting him from the afterlife ! Early in the film Craven does here his daughter's voice but there's no supernatural angle to this this is never really followed up until the final scene which vaguely hints at an afterlife . The afterlife as an after thought ? There's another scene where Craven is in his kitchen , gets kidnapped by the spooks from Northmoor , escapes from Northmoor and is back in his kitchen again with absolutely no explanation as to what the previous sequence was about . Either someone has edited out an important plot detail or someone has failed to edit out a needless and confusing action sequence . One or the other
The screenplay does suffer from being oversimplified . Unlike the BBC series by Troy Kennedy Martin this version is very much a straight forward conspiracy thriller devoid of an of the idiosyncratic , mind blowing and bizarre concepts that made the original so much more than just a mere thriller . Maybe we shouldn't be too critical of this since Gaia theory might be too " out there " for a mainstream international audience but what it means is if someone who saw the BBC version will be bitterly disappointed that this theme is not retained in the film version . To be honest screenwriter William Monahan is one of the weakest screenwriters in Hollywood today . KINGDOM OF HEAVEN had a disjointed script whilst THE DEPARTED is inferior to the tightly plotted INFERNAL AFFAIRS . It is noticeable that Monahan has included references to Gibson's other films such as WE WERE SOLDIERS and PASSION OF THE Christ but is post modernist self reference a good substitute for mind blowing original narrative ? It also leads to plot holes of why would a corporate nuclear company be selling nuclear weapons to hostile powers ? May be it was explained but much of the film it ended up in the cutting room floor ? Despite this there's several scenes where Craven confronts several characters :
" Tell me . Why was my daughter murdered ? "
" I can't . They'll kill me "
" Tell me "
" Okay I'll tell you "
which suggests sloppy writing rather than editing blunders
All in all this is a disappointment , though with hindsight perhaps because the original was so unique , a sort of depressing , nihilistic , hippy film noir that it would be wrong to expect this to be carried in to mainstream money orientated entertainment . That said if you like conspiracy thrillers and haven't seen the original then it's certainly okay popcorn fare . It also probably a film that is remembered for Mel Gibson's last feature in a starring role