So I saw 'Edge of Darkness'

It's been a while since Mel Gibson headlined an action flick and so I was intrigued when Edge of Darkness came to town.

Alcohol-fuelled antics be damned, you can't help but feel for the man, for he's cool, if not mad. Face it, nobody metes out righteous retribution as spectacular – and as bloody and violent – as Mel does, or breaks down as heartfelt as Mel does. And that's exactly what Edge of Darkness, a thriller taking place in a sleepy town in Massachusetts with a nod or two to Braveheart (1995), has to offer.

Mel Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a cop character as far removed as can be from Mel's Martin Riggs of the Lethal Weapon films. Or perhaps not. Perhaps Craven is just an aged version of Riggs. The tight jeans and cowboy boots may be gone, as is the long hair, but the madness remains; the sort of madness that's triggered when a Mel character is visited upon with a particular traumatic event that would launch him on the warpath.

And a Mel character on the warpath is something to see. It's a cinematic experience in and by itself, run-of-the-mill scripting be damned, which is the movie's bane, fast-paced or not.

The script calls for most of the good guys to act hyper-paranoid as they fear for their lives after having gotten on the wrong side of a shady corporation of sorts. They hold up well to Mel, though there is an instance or two where you would expect him, prankster that he is, to cross his eyes or something in the face of his opposing player-in-distress. The script also calls for cardboard bad guys: there you have the evil corporate master of puppets, there the corrupt politician, and, hey, there's Ray Winstone too.

But on a positive note, the film does have a happy ending: Mel styly. Take that as you want.

(Running time: 117 minutes)