Darkman

Starring: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Nelson Mashita, Dan Hicks, Ted Raimi, John Landis, Neal McDonough, Bruce Campbell
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
1990

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A scientist (Liam Neeson) is nearly killed by gangsters and uses his facial reconstruction technology to seek revenge.

Review:

Tim: I was eight years old when Sam Raimi's Darkman debuted and since it's a somewhat gory "R", it might not be that surprising that it took me almost 30 years to finally watch it. The hard part was seeing this superhero movie with the knowledge of what Raimi would later do with his Spider-Man trilogy, as well as the epoch-shattering work of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really tried to watch this film not as a viewer in 2019, but as someone seeing it in 1990. Even with that lens, I can't proclaim Raimi's original superhero film a success. It's unique and unexpected enough that it ultimately is a decent movie, but it has some big issues, too.

I love the story behind this film. Raimi was unable to secure the rights to Batman or The Shadow, so he decided to go out and make his own superhero, tapping into his love of Universal's horror movies from the 1930s. In that aspect, Raimi absolutely achieved what he set out to do. This movie is completely that- a 1990s superhero movie mashed up with a 1930s horror film. Whether that particular combination should have occurred is another question. What it means for Darkman is that this is a movie unlike anything else we've seen. It's a dark superhero story and it has some moments that make you queasy. Raimi's never been afraid to embrace things that make some viewers squeamish and that's absolutely the case here. What I found interesting is that while this combination gives the movie a unique flavor, it's not exactly one that a lot of people would clamor for (some people, for sure). I wouldn't think it would be a huge percentage of the population that says, "I love comic books and superheroes, but I'd really like to be grossed out and slightly depressed, too." It's an odd combination. Raimi deserves credit for delivering something unexpected. The film did receive good reviews from critics and was a box office success, so clearly there was more of a demand for something like this. The movie did spawn two direct-to-video sequels.

One thing I loved about watching this film is that it was the first starring role for Liam Neeson in an action movie. As we all know, later in his career, Neeson would fully embrace the action film and churn out a shocking number of them. But, at this stage, it was all new to him. You can tell he brings legitimate acting talent to this role, but he's also not exactly comfortable in it. You can tell it was a new experience. Contrast this with his performances much later in his career when he's able to act in action movies almost on autopilot. It was fun seeing this earlier role. Frances McDormand was decent here. I've never been a big fan of hers, I always admit. I thought she gave a fine performance, but I wasn't wowed by anything she did. The rest of the cast felt pretty C-level to me. There's a lot of "comic booky" performances and people showing no restraint in their performances. It all feels too over-the-top and silly to me.

One of my many criticisms of this film is that it feels like the character of Peyton Westlake (I had to look up the name) was so underdeveloped. He's a scientist working on this facial reconstruction technology thing. He has a girlfriend. Other than that, I don't know a lot about him. Raimi expects us to care about him because he's the protagonist, but he doesn't give us enough character development to really identify with him. He's okay, but he's no Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, or Tony Stark. He's a forgettable, one-dimensional character. That undermines literally everything else in the movie. We want him to succeed because the bad guys are bad, but we don't really love the character or feel anything for him- other than a general feeling of sympathy for having his face mutilated so terribly. I have to admit, I never fully bought into his 3D rendering, mask-making technology. I get it and I need to suspend disbelief, but it all felt a bit too hokey.

The action sequences aren't great, although I'll admit the helicopter scene at the end is pretty incredible. It wasn't always believable, but it was impressively done. The visual effects haven't held up, but they are quite impressive given the time period.

I fully appreciate the unique things that Sam Raimi did with Darkman. It deserves credit for stepping outside of the norm. It's certainly a different animal. There's a lot of flaws with this movie, although it was undoubtedly a valuable learning experience for Raimi. It was obvious he would go on to bigger and better things.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Batman, Batman Returns, The Evil Dead