New Movie Poster Released for Mel Gibson Starrer “Edge of Darkness”

The new movie poster for Edge of Darkness has been released and we are intrigued to see how the filmmakers and writers handle the story in this new film starring Mel Gibson. He will be reprising the role of Thomas Craven, previously played by Bob Peck in the outstanding and often overlooked 1985 BBC television series of the same name. It is nearly impossible to capture the plot intricacies and character development of an original film that ran six hours long into just over two hours. Bob Peck won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for his haunting performance. The original also starred Joe Don Baker in his seminal performance as Darius Jedburgh, the hard drinking, Rolls Royce driving, golf obsessed, CIA agent whose acting role as fixer was phenomenal.

The original was written by the now deceased Troy Kennedy-Martin who wove a story of loss, intrigue and corporate malfeasance. The original also had a score written by Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen. This was Clapton’s first real film score and it set a standard for style that has been “copied” by others but none have reached the level of excellence of this freshman effort. In the remake, Martin Campbell (director of the original film) returns to direct this version. We can only hope. Ray Winstone (”Sexy Beast“) takes on the role of Darius Jedburgh. An excellent actor, he will have a tough time rising to a performance that will match that of Joe Don Baker.

One only has to watch the original BBC series “State of Play” and then the disappointing US version starring Russell Crowe to understand how easy it is to butcher the original movie. Some films should never be remade, in our opinion this is one of them. Amazingly, the original had never been released on DVD in the USA for 24 years. According to Netflix, the original will be released on November 3rd of this year - If you have not seen it, do not pass go, do not collect $200, be sure you get it into your Netflix queue. You also could not go wrong buying it to add to your collection. This is one of those rare flicks you can share with friends and look like a hero for having found a true gem. Despite its age it still stands the test of time.

The movie poster design itself is utilitarian fare that screams lack of originality. We have our fingers crossed this average movie poster is not a precursor of the film itself. The remake is scheduled for release stateside January 29, 2010.