DARKMAN
A film review by David Alba, Jr.
Copyright 1990 David Alba, Jr.
When I first entered the theater, I had somewhat mediocre expectations for the film DARKMAN. The trailers looked good but I really didn't know much about the director (I have never seen any of the EVIL DEAD movies), but when I left the theater I was glad I took a chance on seeing this excellent movie.
The story involves a scientist Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) who is working on an invention that will create realistic synthetic skin. His girlfriend, Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand) who works for the District Attorney's office uncovers a document revealing some illegal transactions between Trask Industries and Robert Durant (Larry Drake). One night when Westlake is on the brink of perfecting his invention, Durant and his hoods break into Peyton's lab in search of the document. After roughing up Westlake they find the document. Durant's henchmen dunk Westlake's hands and face into a vat of acid, afterward they blow up his lab. Julie arriving home after work sees this explosion and assumes Peyton is dead. Later we find out that Peyton wasn't killed, instead he was taken to the Hospital Burn Unit with severe burns over 40% of his body, the worst being on his face and hands. After Peyton regains consciousness he escapes from the hospital and becomes DARKMAN.
DARKMAN has the ability by using his invention, to assume the identity of anyone he chooses simply by using their photograph. He also possesses incredible strength and no longer has the capability of feeling any physical pain, due to an operation that was performed in the hospital.
The visual effects in this film were quite good. I also enjoyed the directorial style of Sam Raimi. The performances of the actors were also very good, especially Liam Neeson.
The latest trend in films today is making movies about comic heroes. We have been treated to BATMAN and DICK TRACY. CBS has a television series called THE FLASH due for its fall season, and the films CAPTAIN AMERICA, SPIDERMAN and the BATMAN sequel are also in the planning stages. DARKMAN had the look of a comic book that BATMAN was missing and DICK TRACY never achieved.
So, the next time a stranger bumps into you on the street or your loved one doesn't seem to be themselves. You might want to ask yourself: is it really them or could it be DARKMAN?? I give this film a rating of +2.
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews