Edge of Darkness | reviews, news & interviews
Edge of Darkness
Edge of Darkness
Movie remake of BBC series sorely lacks darkness and edginess
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Mel Gibson as Detective Thomas Craven, on the hunt for his daughter's killers
If you were looking for a director for the movie version of Edge of Darkness, you'd have thought you couldn't do better than Martin Campbell, who made the original 1985 series for BBC television. He's now a bona fide Hollywood ace, with a string of major TV credits and hit movies like Casino Royale and the Zorro flicks to his name. But not even a Tinseltown budget can bribe lightning to strike twice, and whatever fortuitous combination of timing and subject matter turned the BBC series into an instant historic event, it's difficult to imagine that happening to its big-screen incarnation.
If you were looking for a director for the movie version of Edge of Darkness, you'd have thought you couldn't do better than Martin Campbell, who made the original 1985 series for BBC television. He's now a bona fide Hollywood ace, with a string of major TV credits and hit movies like Casino Royale and the Zorro flicks to his name. But not even a Tinseltown budget can bribe lightning to strike twice, and whatever fortuitous combination of timing and subject matter turned the BBC series into an instant historic event, it's difficult to imagine that happening to its big-screen incarnation.
Add comment
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
Blu-ray: Hitchcock - The Beginning
A box set shows how Alfred Hitchcock embraced the sound revolution – pathologies intact
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl review - an old foe returns
Stop-motion animation on an epic scale
Blu-ray: Three Wishes for Cinderella
Witty, engaging Czech fairy tale with an appealingly feisty heroine
Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes review - a Hollywood legend, warts and all
A documentary portrait of Bogie toes the official line but still does him justice
Sujo review - cartels through another lens
A surprisingly subtle narco pic from Mexico
Queer review - Daniel Craig meets William Burroughs
Luca Guadagnino's film is crazy but it just might work
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review - a middling return to Middle-earth
JRR Tolkien gets the anime treatment
The Commander review - the good Italian
Chivalrous valour at sea from a real World War Two hero
Nocturnes review - the sounds of the rainforest transport you a remote region of the Himalayas
Mansi spends her nights counting moths in North East India
theartsdesk Q&A: filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan and Galen Johnson on 'Rumours'
Archetype-bending auteur Maddin and co. discuss their new film's starry, absurd G7, autobiography and artifice
Merchant Ivory review - fascinating documentary about the director and producer's long partnership
Stephen Soucy examines Ismael Merchant and James Ivory's complicated relationship with input from many stars
Grand Theft Hamlet review - intriguing documentary about Shakespeare as multi-player shooter game
How two jobless actors created a novel Hamlet inside the game Grand Theft Auto
Comments
...
...