In 1985, the BBC aired the six-part thriller Edge of Darkness. Directing all six Bafta award-winning episodes was Martin Campbell; a Kiwi who came to the UK to be a cameraman, who ended up directing some classic TV shows including Minder, Shoestring and The Professionals.

Twenty-five years on, Campbell once again finds himself on the Edge of Darkness, this time helming its cinematic outing, which also sees the return of Mel Gibson after a seven year absence from our screens.

Thomas Craven (Gibson) is looking forward to a visit from his 24-year-old daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic). He’s a Boston homicide cop, who’s probably been married to the job for more years than he cares to mention.

I told you Mel, doing films in casual wear is just so much comfier. I think in our next scene we should be in our PJs, yeah?

Not long after picking Emma up, she becomes strangely ill. Just as they’re on their way out to the hospital, the pair are confronted by a gunman on the doorstep. He shouts ‘Craven!’, shoots his daughter dead, then makes his escape.

Craven manages to persuade the powers that be that he should investigate her death; after all, they had called his name out before shooting her, so it must be someone he knows.

With a little digging however, he soon discovers that the gunman was actually out to kill his daughter after all. The more he probes, the more he learns of her role working for a corporation with ties to the government.

Things become even more shadowy when Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) appears unannounced in his backyard; he’s an Englishman with connections, working for who knows who. He knows about craven’s situation, in fact, he probably knows more than he’s letting on, leaving Craven unsure whether he’s friend or foe.

What he does know is that whoever killed his daughter has to pay. However, his investigation leads him to the darkest of corners, revealing a world of corruption and murder that he just wasn’t aware of. And the closer he gets to the truth, the further outside of the law he finds himself.

Seven years is a hell of a long time for an A-lister actor to go awol – from our screens at least. But Gibson takes to Craven like he’s never been away. He looks older, sure, but he’s maturing in a good way like Harrison Ford, owning the screen as he does, with a steely stare. He works damn hard too, as he appears in almost every scene.

The film could have easily gone the lazy Taken route, with a guns a-blazing, ask questions later formula. Thankfully, it’s more cerebral than that and gives the audience a bit more credit. As the story unfolds, Campbell forces the audience to think for themselves, as he very rarely drip-feeds the obvious. You don’t have to have an extraordinarily high IQ, but it pays to keep up with the plot.

Gibson imbues Craven with a regular Joe mentality – albeit one who’s been a cop all his life. All his actions take place within the realms of believability. There’s no jumping out of tenth floor windows and running away unscathed. Someone hits him, it looks like it hurts.

The scenes Gibson shares with Winstone are also nicely played out. There’s an ambiguity to their relationship, with neither one really knowing what the other is thinking. Winstone takes it up a notch from more recent roles, proving there’s more to him that playing the heavy.

And although Campbell is faithful to the whistle-blowing storyline, he still manages some truly jump-out-of-your-seat moments, that audiences wouldn’t necessarily bargain for. Those two Bond films under his belt appear to have paid off.

Despite a somewhat soppy ending ¬– one that could quite easily bring a bit of sick into your mouth – Edge of Darkness is one of those rarities for current releases: a gripping, grown-up title that really puts the ‘thrill’ into thriller.