Darkman (1990)

Enter Darkman.

Sam Raimi’s trial run for the Spider-Man franchise is a whole bunch of fun. Liam Neeson plays Dr. Peyton Westlake, a super scientist who after a major run-in with the villainous Robert G. Durant (Larry Drake), reinvents himself as Darkman, a super-anti-hero who sets about ridding L.A. of its mobsters.

It’s a comic book film that isn’t based on a comic book, Raimi inventing his own tortured protagonist whilst homaging similar beings of eras past. All the silliness of such fare is here of course, overblown violence and colourful characters are frequent, but there’s good thought gone into the revenge theme, while the action sequences are often excellent. The pace hardly sags, as Raimi’s creations move about a Los Angeles that is equally decaying or affluent, and in Neeson the story has a lead actor with swagger, pathos and emotional force in abundance. 7/10

Full Review:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ODe6zr5oNHl6lkcjoOcPB?si=0aad71ce959743a3

I recently rewatched Darkman and there is just so much to like about this movie. In comparison to today's superhero overdose, Darkman just sticks to the basics and tells an incredible emotional and captivating story which is real. No over the top CGI, no storylines forced in by studio producers, not really any characters used just as a device, no cut scenes of blatant Easter Eggs and no political agenda in sight. Comedy is used appropriately and not to undercut the tone of particular scenes and characters.

I really miss these kind of movies in today's superhero landscape. I do like the MCU and how they bought these comic book characters to screen, but after watching Darkman (after about 15 years or so) the MCU are doing so much wrong. I loved you could just watch this movie and not have to worry about what is means to the overarching story or where this story and character fit into the larger universe. It also did such a great job of focusing purely on one character and the journey through the pain he has to go through.

I love this movie, it's one of those movies which will always stick in my memory. It's a real testament to great film making and knowing what works.

This is interesting... this is one of those B-Movie gems that is packed full of pro-talent before they really became pro-talent. And that is right down to the Cohens who did uncredited script polishing.

This is worth the watch, even if you are one of those people that hates B-movies... wrongly hates.

And, it's a comic book movie, it is over the top, it is campy, it packs serious action into a short little plot that still manages to be compelling. The MCU could take lessons on story crafting from this.

Seen this one a few times over the years and while some scenes were really cheesy due to the visual effects of that era, it still is quite entertaining and solid performances from Neeson and McDormand even with some of the overly dramatic dialogue especially from Neeson. Fine way to spend 90-minutes still.

"Darkman" almost seems to be an innovative combination of a superhero movie and Gaston Leroux's classic 1909 novel "The Phantom of the Opera" as it aspires to be so much more than the sum of its parts. It does often achieve an emotional poignancy (especially when it comes to the relationship between Peyton Westlake and Julie Hastings), but it is all too clear their love can never continue no matter how much each one of them wishes it to. Sam Raimi is on superb form in the director's chair as you would expect and he successfully injects the proceedings with his marvellously restless energy and this results in some especially excellent action sequences which have been presented with great imagination by a director with an exceptionally superior visual flare.