Based on a short story by Sam Raimi written as an homage to Universal’s 1940s horror classics, Darkman is a visually inventive, low-budget superhero film that served as a creative and thematic stepping stone to his blockbuster Spider-Man trilogy.
Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) is a scientist who is developing a synthetic skin prototype to help burn victims. However, his research is at a standstill because the artificial skin he has created disintegrates after 99 minutes. He is in a healthy and loving relationship with Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand), an attorney for real estate developer Louis Strack Jr. (Colin Friels), who owns Strack Corporation. One day, she unintentionally discovers a document revealing that Louis is bribing zoning commission members to complete the ambitious construction project he calls the “City of the Future.” As a result, Louis hires a vicious mob gangster named Robert Durant (Larry Drake) to retrieve the document. Robert and his armed goons invade Peyton’s lab in search of the document and, after acquiring it, end up destroying the lab, which explodes and nearly kills Peyton, who is horrifyingly disfigured by the blast and thrown from the building. After surviving and being permanently transformed by an experimental surgery, Peyton becomes known as Darkman and begins seeking vengeance on those who destroyed his life.
Darkman follows a conventional three-act structure, with the first act introducing Peyton’s personal and professional world before plunging him into a life-altering conflict that leaves him badly burned and his face beyond recognition. The second act focuses on Peyton’s survival and his methodical pursuit of revenge against those who wronged him. Along the way, he encounters familiar and somewhat predictable obstacles—most notably when the villains use Julie, his emotional vulnerability, to strike back—ultimately building to a climactic confrontation with the main antagonist in the final act. As a result, the film’s structure is overly familiar as it lays out its cards too obviously, making it easy to guess how every major event and resolution will play out. However, what maintains the viewer’s interest is the fascinating turns in Peyton’s journey—surviving a brutal attack, undergoing an experimental nerve procedure that dulls his physical pain but heightens his emotions and gives him bursts of adrenaline-fueled strength, resurrecting his lab from scratch and using his scientific knowledge to create masks, and infiltrating Durant’s gang by impersonating its members to seek revenge—all of which lead to some genuinely thrilling moments.
Despite the film’s familiar plot beats, Raimi’s raw and energetic direction—marked by his signature kinetic camera work and twisted sense of humor—keeps things engaging. In many ways, this film is a storytelling and stylistic predecessor to his outstanding Spider-Man trilogy. The film excels particularly in its action sequences, which are tense, intriguing, and innovative, which most current superhero films desperately lack. One standout moment involves a character’s head left exposed above a sewer manhole, only to be crushed by an oncoming car at high speed in a scene that’s as shocking as it is unforgettable. Then there’s the exhilarating and creative helicopter chase sequence, in which Peyton clings to a rope dangling from the chopper, crashing through buildings and dodging bullets and flying glass, before outsmarting his enemies by hooking the cable to a speeding truck. Finally, the film culminates in a spectacular showdown in an under-construction skyscraper; it is superbly choreographed and executed, and at one point, Raimi cuts to the perspective of a nail gun that Louis Strack Jr. fires at Peyton—I mean, it doesn’t get much more inventive than that. Raimi injects creativity into every frame, using fast-paced storytelling and energetic camerawork—featuring crash zooms, Dutch angles, and wild tracking shots. His flair for exaggerated action, physical humor, and grotesque imagery keeps the audience entertained as he delivers a cinematic experience that is truly unique and engaging.
Additionally, Raimi’s script places equal emphasis on Peyton’s character development—chronicling his shift from a mild-mannered scientist with a seemingly ordinary life to a physically scarred and psychologically unstable avenger driven by grief and rage. While not extraordinary, Liam Neeson’s performance as Peyton effectively communicates this journey’s emotional beats.
While Darkman may often be eclipsed by Raimi’s later Spider-Man trilogy, it’s a highly underrated superhero film that deserves more recognition.
Darkman movie links: Wikipedia, Letterboxd
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