LAST year, Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams took the Bafta award-winning 2003 mini-series, State Of Play, to the big screen

Now, we have more political intrigue and corporate skulduggery in Martin Campbell's slick reduction of the 1985 BBC mini-series, Edge of Darkness.

Homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is looking forward to a visit from his daughter, but a happy reunion turns to tragedy when a masked assassin guns down Emma on the steps of the family home, taking a bullet that many believe was meant for her old man.

Consumed with grief, Thomas shuns support from fellow detectives, preferring to investigate his daughter's murder on his own terms.

As Craven edges closer to the truth, the government hires shadowy figure Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) to silence the renegade detective.

Gibson has played the embattled father before and he weeps convincingly here, but confrontations with Jedburgh lack the necessary tension – it's a pity that Robert De Niro was replaced by Winstone during shooting after reported “creative differences”.

The veteran American actor would have brought more gravitas and menace to the role.