Darkman: Sam Raimi’s Own Batman
Necessity is the mother of invention, so the saying goes, which applies to this week’s Way Too Late review: Darkman. Denied the opportunity to direct either a Batman or Shadow film, Sam Raimi (of Evil Dead and later Spider-Man fame) took matters into his own hands, creating the Phantom of the Operaesque Payton Westlake/Darkman. While the movie may have gotten lost during the summer of its release, 1990, a year after the juggernaut of Tim Burton’s Batman, Darkman still found box-office success and a cult following. Recently made available on Netflix, this original superhero story deserves a rewatch, thanks in part to the strong cast and Raimi’s interesting directing.
In creating Darkman, Raimi took inspiration from several different places, including Batman, The Shadow, and the Universal monster flicks of the 1930s. The resulting film plays like a horror/thriller/comic Phantom of the Opera. Liam Neeson stars as Peyton Westlake, a scientist bent on discovering the secret to developing synthetic skin. None of his samples last longer than 99 minutes, unless the skin is in complete darkness. While he works on perfecting his formula, attorney and Westlake’s girlfriend Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand) has been looking into shady real estate dealings. She uncovers documents that implicate real estate developer Louis Strack in bribery. Furious, Strack sets his goons out to recover the documents. Lead by Robert G. Durant (Larry Drake), the goons break into Westlake’s lab, steal the documents, destroy the lab, and leave Westlake for dead. When he recovers, Westlake is burned all over his body and has had his nerve endings severed to spare him a life of constant pain. Bent on revenge, Westlake uses his synthetic skin to take the appearance of the gang members and extract revenge on Durant and Strack, while attempting to win Julie back in the process.
Let’s talk about the acting. Liam Neeson does a masterful job as Westlake/Darkman. The way the character is written, Darkman is a super-flawed hero, hot-tempered and quick to anger. Neeson’s performance reflects that. Some of Darkman’s actions go beyond the pale, making the audience question who they should be rooting for. Long before Jessica Jones made audiences question superheroes’ motives, Darkman dared the audience to hate the titular character. At the time of filming, Neeson had few movie credits (Schindler’s List was still a few years off), but he gives the movie his all. Frances McDormand does a decent job as Julie, although the clashes she had with Raimi over her character are evident in the final picture. Raimi wrote Julie as tough, while McDormand felt she should be more of a damsel in distress (an acting choice she said later she regretted). While she isn’t bad, Julie feels like a weak link in the picture.
While no longer a household name, Larry Drake was once well-known as the developmentally disabled Benny on LA Law. Raimi casts Drake against type as the finger-collecting Robert G. Durant. Like Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe, Drake chews the scenery as Durant. He’s a man of few words and is a genuinely scary heavy, especially when he takes the cigar cutter from his pocket. Between Darkman and subsequent Dr. Giggles, Drake’s IMDB page takes a turn for the dark around 1992.
Sam Raimi was still deep in his Evil Dead phase during the filming of Darkman, which comes between Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness in the director’s oeuvre. Raimi was given a bigger budget than he’d had on previous films and he makes the most of it, with on-location shooting and a climatic helicopter chase scene. There are several impressive shots he uses throughout the film, along with some surreal ways to depict Neeson’s explosive anger. The result is a thriller/action/superhero smoothie. This kind of genre blending is Raimi’s forte, used previously to great effect in Evil Dead II and later in Spider-Man. With his cast and script, Raimi moves seamlessly between making the audience laugh, cry, and squirm.
Darkman’s cameos deserve special mention. First, the Cohen Brothers, who appear as driver and passenger of Sam Raimi’s famous 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. The burn nurse is Jenny Agutter, who also played a nurse in the horror classic An American Werewolf in London. Finally, Darkman’s last disguise is none other that Bruce Campbell, Raimi’s frequent collaborator and first choice to play Darkman, only the studio didn’t think he was a big enough star. Raimi had the last laugh, casting Campbell after all, if only for a few seconds. Groovy.
Darkman tl;drs
Quick summary: Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) is intent on discovering the secret to creating synthetic skin. When his girlfriend Julie (Frances McDormand) discovers paperwork that could bring down the local crime boss Durant (Larry Drake), Durant comes for the files, breaking into Westlake’s lab, stealing the files and leaving Westlake for dead. Now horribly scarred, Westlake uses his synthetic skin to extract revenge on Durant and his gang.
Too many writers? Raimi reportedly clashed with the movie studio due to the numerous rewrites and it shows, with 5 people credited with working on the screenplay.
Recommended if you like: Heroes of questionable morality; period actors kicking ass.
Better than I expected? With a scant 95-minute runtime, Darkman cruises. Raimi does a masterful job setting up the origin and revenge stories as quickly as he can.
Worse than I hoped? McDormand’s character could have been tougher; she wanted her character to be more of a typical damsel in distressed and clashed with Raimi on set.
Should it be rebooted? I think so. While there’s already been two direct-to-video sequels, a failed TV pilot, and some comic tie-ins, I think a return to the character would be interesting.
Verdict: Darkman blends several superhero archetypes with the monster flicks of the 1930s to create something original. It’s an entertaining watch.
Related Reading: 20 Awesome Facts You Might Not Know About Darkman on Uproxx
Related Viewing: Siskel and Ebert’s review of Darkman
