Review of Darkman (1990) by Sébastien P — 28 Mar 2009

Interesting transition between the "Evil Dead" and "Spider-man" movies for the director Sam Raimi. It even has a Tim Burton's "Batman" vibe going on especially with the musical score by Danny Elfman, but a different poor man's Batman nevertheless.

Dramatically, Darkman didn't work for me, neither did it work as kitch or camp although perhaps it was trying for the fine line between both. The acting by Liam Neeson in the title role veered between acceptable and horrible, Frances McDormand as the girlfriend was lifeless and Larry Drake as the vilain Durant was actually decent.

I did find the movie entertaining and liked the touches of humor here and there although it didn't always work. There were at least 2 big plot points (and smaller ones) that didn't make sense and that took me out of the story.

The makeup of Darkman was marvelously done, still creepy today, and I must admit the action set pieces, despite the sometimes visible bluescreen compositing, were exciting.