DARKMAN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This film does not have gaps in its
logic, it has gorges. Sam Raimi's transition from horror to
science fiction shows up serious problems in his plotting.
Five people wrote the screenplay, but it plays as if it were
ten. And a bigger budget is pushing Raimi's visual sense to
the pretentious. A sad disappointment after his EVIL DEAD
II. Rating: -1.
Sam Raimi is a director who came from out of nowhere to become a major name in the horror film genre. His film EVIL DEAD (1983), produced on a shoestring, was nonetheless a very impressive debut. He had a lot of novel variations on what was basically a zombie film. Raimi's second film, EVIL DEAD II (1987), proved to be a terrifically inventive horror film with an amazing array of weird twists and visual playing. You have little idea watching EVIL DEAD II what is likely to happen next but you can be fairly sure it will further twist the horror film cliches into a knot. With DARKMAN Raimi is taking on the comic book superhero film and trying to twist it the way he twisted the zombie film in his previous efforts.
With DARKMAN, however, Raimi is telling a more complex story than before and it shows up weaknesses in his story-telling abilities. In fact, by making the short trip from horror/fantasy to what is basically science fiction, Raimi has managed to turn his greatest virtue into his greatest flaw. What was good about the EVIL DEAD films, particularly the sequel, was the feeling that just about anything could happen. That is the same feeling we get with DARKMAN, but it is a fault. As a fantasy, the EVIL DEAD films take place in a world of the supernatural. DARKMAN occurs in the world of the rational and it has a much more complex plot. With a rational film you have the right to observe that something does not make sense.
Liam Neeson plays Dr. Westlake, a scientist working on synthetic flesh a la 1932's DR. X. His girlfriend Julie Hastings (played by Frances McDormand) runs afoul of some particularly sadistic heavies and they horribly disfigure Westlake in an attempt to kill him. To treat Westlake, his doctors cut his pain sensors, a standard procedure operation that leaves Westlake with great strength and also makes him just a little mentally unbalanced. As his doctor (Jenny Agutter in a cameo) explains, this is pretty generally what the operation does. The first question to ask is why there are not a bunch of very strong people running around. Even if, as the doctor suggests, the vast majority of people who have the operation do not survive, wouldn't the few who do have the Darkman's strength?
Westlake, disfigured, then escapes and hides in sewers with perhaps more than just a slight tip of the hat to the 1943 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Eventually he finds a place and stocks it with very advanced scientific equipment. (How does he find such a nice place that is just abandoned? Where does he get the equipment? Who knows?) He uses his synthetic flesh to make computer-generated masks that are perfect replicas of people using only the information in a single photograph. (Bosh--he could not possibly get all the information he needs from so few photographs.) When he puts on the mask he can look so much like the other person as to fool even close associates. (How does he get the right voice? Assume the right stature?) Apparently after having built this laboratory with his own hands he suddenly discovers that all along his hands have been as badly destroyed as his face. (How could he do as much as he did without realizing the state of his hands?) The logic of DARKMAN is not just bad, it is shockingly bad.
The technical credits are somewhat better. The score by Danny Elfman is somewhat in his BATMAN style but stands fairly well on its own. With his first real budget, Raimi has managed a number of nice visual effects though at times he almost borders on being pretentious. One such touch has Hastings watching the death of her lover. First the background fades to a graveyard, then her clothing fades to a black mourning dress. A number of visual touches seem to borrow from ALTERED STATES. But there are also surprising visual gaffes such as shots shown in mirror image with tell-tale backwards lettering. At one point we see a truck with a clown smile face on it destroyed and seconds later we see it miraculously undestroyed. The tone of the film abruptly shifts to tongue-in-cheek toward the end, damaging the feeling.
DARKMAN has been getting some very favorable comment from critics. And I tried to turn my mind off and just enjoy the film. But I have to say DARKMAN did not do very much for me. I give it a -1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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