"Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but the son of a bitch knows story structure!" says ‘ South Park ’. Has Mel Gibson been really gone 8 years from our screens? Since 2002’s ‘Signs’, he has taken a self imposed break from acting, deciding instead to direct a few violent, subtitled yarns and drunkenly comit the odd hate crime. Has it been that long since he has not been seen in front of a lens? Apart from his mug shot that is? Well folks, fret no more as the anti mullet, Anti-Semitist is back, with this, quite possibly the most pedestrian of thrillers seen in a while. Even South Park, it seems can get it wrong sometimes.
We open on a haggered, familiar face in a crowd. Yes, he looks slightly older, yes, his hair is slightly greying and yes, despite the various scrapes and dust ups it is soon to endure, it does retain its beautiful shape, but folks make no mistake, Mel Gibson is back. So after collecting his daughter and a not very convincing reunion it is not long before a violent attack on her own doorstep that she is left lying in a pool of her own blood as her father (Gibson) looks helplessly on. Bad move bad guys, Gibson here is a Boston Police Detective, and VERY pissed off. What follows is ‘Taken’-lite, as Gibson’s Tom Craven, attempts to take down everyone and anyone involved in the death and cover up of it, from assassins, fellow police officers, senators, and some multi millionaire businessmen. Craven ‘just doesn’t give a shit anymore’! Along the way we meet the always welcome sights of Danny Huston, who may or may not be a corrupt businessman, and Ray Winstone as…..wait, what does Winstone actually do during this movie? Some unexpected and nasty deaths included, with Gibson going from ‘sad’ to ‘mad’ and we have a movie that’s not so much ‘bad’, as just……. ‘meh’. Martin Campbell, the man who reinvented James Bond twice, with ‘Goldeneye’ and ‘Casino Royale’ directs here like he couldn’t care less. All the more surprising as it was he who directed the British Mid 80’s Programme that the movie is based on. So was this a labour of love for the people involved? Why else would Gibson come back from his hiatus, or Campbell return to his roots? Wow, something must have really gone wrong along the way. Robert DeNiro, it seems had the most sense he’s had in a few years when he walked off the project after a few days…..
The movie is not as clever as it may think. In fact, it plods along from one incidental episode to the next, without ever seeming like its going anywhere. Everything is obvious from 30 minutes or so into it, so all that’s left for the audience is patiently waiting for Gibson to get his information, or get angry or upset at someone. To be fair, when things seem to be skewering off the rails, it is Gibson that keeps you watching. No one does 'wild eyed, scarily crazy unhinged man', quite like him. It was nice to see him on the screen again, and it actually made me miss him. My God, what I would do to see him get some sense, reunite with George Miller and strap on the leather boots one last time as Max Rockatansky. Danny Huston seems to be making a name for himself playing shady businessmen, and Ray Winstone has literally the most pointless part to a movie I have seen in quite some time, so what does it all add up to? Well it’s no travesty, by any stretch. In fact it’s far too routine and safe to be completely shite, but what’s surprising about it, is that no one here really seems to care about the film. As a result, the film is completely forgettable; perhaps it seemed fun when you were hungover, but in the cold hard light of day it can’t possibly stand up to scratch.
Result: 39%
So Mels grand return to acting equals a pointless thriller. Although your enjoyment of it depends on how you find a scene that pretty much plays out as follows-Inspector Chief: ’You can’t work this case on the death of your daughter, you’re too close to it!’ Detective Gibson: ‘I have to, I’m the best Officer here.’ Inspector Chief: ‘Oh yeah, OK, you’re back on the case!’ Oh, and your Dad will love it.
Film Trailer:
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