“Edge of Darkness” is the first film featuring a now middle aged 80s superstar in an action role to actually work. Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone’s recent attempts to revitalize their old franchises ended up leaving several bad tastes in our mouths. Now my problems with those films were never the actors. It was that the circumstances they found themselves in were increasingly ridiculous. Needless to say you won’t see a superhuman Gibson repeating all his old catchphrases in this film. This time it’s just a hard broiled cop out for revenge and kicking ass.

The first thing “Edge of Darkness” has going for it is director Martin Campbell. He’s the man who reinvented James Bond twice in 1995’s “Goldeneye” and 2006’s “Casino Royale”. The man knows how to handle action, and with the help of his frequent cinematographer Phil Medheux, make it look really good. The second notch in the film’s belt is having William Monahan of “The Departed” fame to co-write the script. Given that the movie takes place in Boston, he’s a good man to have around. Lastly, star Mel Gibson is back, and commands the screen just as he has always done. You still don’t quite no if he’s crazy or just intense. Maybe it’s both, but I for one am ok with that.

Now chances are you have seen the trailers and know that the film centers around Gibson’s Officer Craven out to avenge his daughter’s death and uncover the conspiracy in which she was involved. If you know that then I’m guessing you would like to know how many bodies Craven leaves in his wake. The best answer is a lot. Each kill is brutally filmed, acted, and even feels new. Which is nice considering that one of the movies weaknesses is a story that has been told several times before. Yet, here you can feel not only the weight of each gun, but it’s impact as well. One particular scene in which Craven must shoot down an oncoming car is so visceral I felt as if I’d been nicked. The only other minor problems I had with the film is that some of the supporting cast was a little too over the top. You can’t really blame them though when you have to keep up with Gibson and his wild eyes.

Now we haven’t seen Mel star in a film since 2003’s “Signs”, and he hasn’t been in revenge mode since 1999’s “Payback”. In “Edge of Darkness” he proves that actors can make triumphant returns to their favorite genre even in the shadow of their controversial personal lives. I for one hope that all our old heroes keep trying. After all, isn’t that what heroes are supposed to do?