Liam Neeson

Frances McDormand

Colin Friels

Larry Drake

Nelson Mashita

Jessie Lawrence Ferguson

Rafael H. Robledo

Dan Hicks

Ted Raimi

Dan Bell

Nicholas Worth

Aaron Lustig

Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad

Said Faraj

Nathan Jung

Professor Toru Tanaka

John Lisbon Wood

Frank Noon

William Dear

Julius Harris

Bridget Hoffman

Philip A. Gillis

Maggie Moore

Carl Bresk

Sean Daniel

John Landis

Carrie Hall

John Cameron

Craig Hosking

Karl A. Wickman

Cliff Fleming

Andy Bale

Neal McDonough

Stuart Cornfeld

William Lustig

Scott Spiegel

Cary Tyler

Charles W. Young

Bruce Campbell

Jenny Agutter

Ethan Coen

Joel Coen

Tau Logo

Josh Becker

Jorga Caye

Christopher Doyle

Troy Fromin

Tony Gardner

Chuck Pfarrer

Sam Raimi

Ivan Raimi

Daniel Goldin

Joshua Goldin

Robert Tapert

Danny Elfman

Bill Pope

Bud S. Smith

David Stiven

Grania Preston

Randy Ser

Phil Dagort

Julie Kaye Fanton

Susan Exton-Stranks

Deborah K. Larsen

John Harrington

Michele Poulik

Allan Johnson

Scott Meehan

David McKlveen

Thomas D. Krausz

Christopher Gilman

Edmond Scott Ratliff

John Smart

Janet Kusnick

Ric Scott

Pete von Sholly

Kevin 'Rambo' Fitzgerald

Kurt Grossi

Kim Heath

Tim Durr

Brad Wood

Wayne Kosky

Gary Drew

Tony Jefferson

Scott Sproule

László Regos

Randy Simper

Doug Beswick

Evan Brainard

Caleb Chung

Steve Dunham

Steve Frakes

Roger McCoin

Larry Hamlin

Werner Hahnlein

Michael Lawler

John P. Mesa

Marcus Tate

Tom Boucher

Kendall Nishimine

Andrea Horta

Mark P. Stoeckinger

Joseph A. Mayer

Jeff Courtie

Christina Tucker

Bill Voigtlander

Robert Batha

Jill Smith

Alan Holly

John Murray

Pat Carol

David A. Arnold

Neal Burger

Mark A. Lanza

Steve Mann

Patrick O'Sullivan

Dino DiMuro

Kevin Hearst

Scott Martin Gershin

Don Summer

Michael D. Wilhoit

Debbie DeRango

Kathie Weaver

Jody Fedele

Bob Murawski

Darrin Navarro

M. Scott Smith

Tom Prince

April A. Janow

Chuck Borden

Allan Graf

Paul Hellerman

Issy Shabtay

Patricia Whitcher

Elizabeth Flaherty

Michael Paul Clausen

Thomas Fichter

Gary Frutkoff

Ron Ervin

Ginni Barr

Roger Nall

Darkman Collection

Action

Science Fiction

Thriller

Darkman

Universal Pictures

Renaissance Pictures

United States of America

English

mask

corruption

experiment

gangster

superhero

burn

revenge

los angeles, california

scientist

madness

outsider

disfigurement

conflagration

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 Trailer 1990 - 35mm - HD

Darkman (1990) Theatrical Trailer

Darkman( 1990)

They destroyed everything he had, everything he was. Now, crime has a new enemy and justice has a new face.

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A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Sat Jun 14 2014

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