It's frequently tossed aside that Martin Campbell directed the now-classic original BBC miniseries version in addition to the recent feature version of Edge of Darkness. In one of the "focus point" featurettes included on last week's Blu-ray, Campbell mentions that the only guy who would have made a movie work was Mel Gibson, and he does, for the most part.
The thing that keeps you watching is wondering whether Gibson will be able to bottle the intensity and fury that he's know for on and off the screen. I for one couldn't get invested in officer Craven or his daughter. I'm the greatest enemy of "the source material was better", but for better or worse, I think the story told here needs the kind of time to simmer and build that you get by spreading it over six installments. We get that the daughter is abnormally ill and was probably the target of the gunman almost immediately. Gibson starts to pop his cork very soon as well, and we entirely ditch the idea of a gradual mounting of tension. The movie is all his and is all methodical revenge.
Ray Winstone plays the enigmatic "fixer" Jedburgh, a role he took over just as shooting was to begin. Robert DeNiro was originally set for the part, but departed citing "creative differences". The part as written suits Winstone better, honestly. With the revamped formula of the movie, I wonder if he really needed to be in it at all, regardless of his role at the finale. The focus point bits take good care in focusing on bringing Mel out of semi-retirement and the remaking of something that worked so well with an iconic lead and musical score. They couldn't have surmounted the brilliance of the 1987 vintage source, but hopefully this lesser reconfiguration of the story points more people to the original.
Amazon's selling the Blu-ray for $24.99. It includes a few minutes of deleted scenes and a bunch of "focus point" featurettes that you can watch all at once or individually. The original miniseries is $25.49 on DVD.