Casting Mel Gibson in the lead role of a movie is a dicey move in Hollywood these days. The fact that he has not headlined a film in almost eight years, combined with his very public drunken tirade of racial, anti-Semitic and gender slurs, led to great uncertainty regarding whether Mel Gibson would ever make an acting comeback. Edge of Darkness, released Friday, marked Mel's return to the big screen and the big question on everyone's mind was twofold: 1) Does he still have the acting chops to handle the heavy roles, and 2) Can viewers forgive him for his wrongdoings? The answer to the first one is very much yes, while the second question will not be determined until the box office numbers start to roll in. But I digress. The film is not about Mel Gibson's personal life nor is it even about Mel Gibson-in short, it is a story about a father in his search for revenge against a corrupt and greedy corporation.Edge of Darkness, directed by Martin Campbell-director of arguably the best two modern Bond movies, GoldenEye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006)-is a remake of a six-episode 1985 BBC miniseries also directed by Campbell. The story starts off with a fairly basic plotline. Detective Thomas Craven, a war veteran and Boston police officer, is meeting with his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic), with whom he has fallen out of touch. As he is standing beside her, a mysterious man shows up, yells, "Craven" and murders his daughter. Everyone seems to think that Detective Craven himself was the intended target and his daughter was the victim of a wrong place, wrong time scenario. Faced with the grief of watching his daughter die right in front of him along with the suspicion that he was in fact the intended target, the straightlaced detective has to throw aside some of his morals to investigate the story behind a seemingly random murder. As more and more becomes clear about his daughter's life and Northmoor, the company she worked for, what he finds reaches much farther than he ever could have imagined into lies, deceit and scandal.

What must be cleared up almost immediately is that unlike what the trailers portray, Edge of Darkness is not an action movie and should not be compared to the 2008 thriller Taken, starring Liam Neeson. Action truthfully only makes up about 10 percent of the film, with the other 90 percent entirely driven by characters and drama. What results is much better than the alternative. Edge of Darkness is a well-acted, well-paced drama with interesting characters well worth developing. While Mel Gibson has played the role of an angry man (parent, soldier, detective) in many movies, it is a role that he clearly reprises for a reason-he is good at it. He plays the role with apparent ease, and it is very easy to forget that it is Mel Gibson we are watching instead of Thomas Craven, a forsaken father looking for revenge. The only times I found myself thinking of Mel Gibson the person was during the many scenes in which his character, Craven, refuses and clearly detests alcoholic beverages-something I found to be a little ironic and hopefully true to the real Gibson now.

Though the film relies heavily on the personal and emotional growth of Gibson's character, there are a slew of excellent supporting characters who help develop the interesting but unfortunately predictable plotline. Danny Huston is perfectly cast as the slimy boss of Northmoor, Jack Bennett, whose lack of morals makes him an excellent antagonist to the play-by-the-rules Craven. Ray Winstone's mysterious Jedburgh throws a much-needed element of surprise into a story that has been seen many times before. As the most interesting character in the film, nobody really ever knows who Jedburgh is working for, a mystery that extends to almost the very last scene. With his smooth British accent and his love for scotch and cigars as well as some great one-liners ("everything is illegal in Massachusetts"), I likened him to a quasi-Bond character who plays off of both Craven and Bennett.

Taking a 25-year-old, six-hour miniseries and turning it into a successful two-hour film could not have been easy for director Campbell, but with very good performances and pacing he has done it. Mel Gibson makes a successful transition back into acting in a role that is familiar to him and is supported by a great cast and a very intriguing story. The only noticeable flaw of the film is that the plotline has been rehashed many times and is quite predictable. There is never an "aha" moment and the "bad guy" becomes very obvious from the trailer alone. Also, for the squeamish: Although the violence is rare, it is fairly graphic. In an age of technology it is nice to see a straightedge thriller drama once in a while. Predictability aside, Edge of Darkness is very well-done and a welcome comeback for actor Mel Gibson, who from now on, will hopefully only be seen on the big screen instead of TMZ.