Say what you will about Mel Gibson – he may be an embarrassing alcoholic at best, and at worst a (not-so) closeted anti-Semite – he is an utterly compelling talent to watch, and personal demons aside, he carries that rare fires-burning-in-the-eyes quality that he demonstrated to such brilliant effect in his trademark Mad Max films. Though those embers have been burning less brightly lately – with Mel withdrawing from the screen and turning to directing the likes of the criminally underrated Apocalypto – Gibson’s Edge of Darkness, a reimagining of the classic 1985 BBC drama, sees the Oscar winner back on top form, delivering one of his most visceral and hard-nosed performances.

Gibson plays Boston Detective Thomas Craven, a doting single father, whose daughter, Emma (Bojana Novakovic) has just returned home from University. It isn’t long before she begins vomiting and bleeding from the nose, but before she can get out some desperate information, she is blown away by a shotgun-toting assailant. Working under the reasonable assumption that Thomas was the intended target – given how many undesirables he has put away – the cops begin looking through his arrest docket, while Thomas himself believes that Emma was deliberately targeted due to her involvement with a shady company called Northmoor, who may have been covertly manufacturing nuclear materials with nefarious interests.

Edge of Darkness is the rare film that actually gets better as it goes along, for while director Martin Campbell is quick to kill off Craven’s daughter, the first half hour is for the most part business-as-usual – with Craven talking to his daughter’s boyfriend and lackadaisically sniffing around – and it isn’t until Campbell gets this out of his system that the film really gets the ball rolling.

And boy does the ball roll when Ray Winstone shows up as the ambiguous operative Jedburgh, a man sent to “take care” of Craven, but who has less obvious motives at heart, and is intrigued by the whole messy predicament. The two co-exist in a tenuous, unspoken truce, as each investigates in their own way, edging closer to a reveal that they no doubt never imagined. While Gibson is unquestionably the main attraction here, Winstone proves himself once again, vigorously chewing through the dialogue and cementing himself as the thinking man’s toughie; a brute with a brain.

As the political intrigue mounts up, so do the film’s real treats, the most prominent of which is Gibson himself who, revitalised after eight years away from the camera, manages a spirited and sympathetic interpretation of the material. A few years older now, with receding hairline and wrinkles well and truly in tow, Gibson plays a more haggard version of his “Mad Mel” persona, tapping well into the psychology of his bereaved character while also delivering enough visceral delights, deliciously exacting sweet revenge on his younger and more virile foes.

Indeed, there is more to Edge of Darkness than a simple revenge thriller format, ensured by Campbell, who also helmed the original series, and more recently directed the stunning James Bond tonic Casino Royale. Though these paranoia-laced conspiracy thrillers no doubt reached their apex in the late 1970s with the likes of The China Syndrome, the film’s efficiency as a fast-paced (once the first 30 minutes are out of the way) and crowd-pleasing thriller is difficult to argue. Also praise-worthy is the depiction of Craven’s disconnect with the world in lieu of his daughter’s demise; though the visions of his daughter seem a tad cumbersome, one flashback scene featuring Craven spreading shaving foam over his young daughter’s face and teaching her how to “shave” with a comb is one of the film’s surprisingly touching dramatic highlights.

As Craven says, “Fasten your seatbelt”. Edge of Darkness mixes plenty of whizzing bullets and a touch of vehicular manslaughter with a compelling narrative that makes the best of a returning Gibson, who manages his most significant actorly contribution in at least a decade. Meanwhile, Ray Winstone shines in a complex and delightful role that further affirms his range beyond that of the hulking hardman, while one mustn’t forget Danny Huston’s firmly sleazy portrayal of Northmoor’s head Bennett, nor Martin Campbell’s deft direction.

Edge of Darkness effectively condenses the anguish, the heartbreak, and the intrigue of the original series, while printing its own legitimate, often affecting stamp on a frequently rote genre.