Darkman
When the announcement came out that there would be a big studio, big budget adaptation of the DC Comics character Batman, there was a lot of jockeying and scrambling going on among Hollywood’s top directors as to who would get to direct the first (and at the time, only) major comic book movie since the Reeve Supermans. While we all know that Tim Burton won out in the end (and directed two brilliantly unique movies as a result), there was some competition on that front in the form of Sam Raimi, hot after coming off the first two Evil Deads but ultimately rejected on the basis of having little to no major studio experience. Desperate, Raimi tried to counteract that by attempting to obtain the rights to the character of The Shadow, but again no such luck. Even as years later he would get his wish by helming the initial Spider Man Trilogy, at the time Raimi decided that the only real way to satisfy his craving to make such a movie would be to create his OWN superhero character, complete with a backstory and larger than life, over the top villains to boot. And outside of Unbreakable, this would turn out to be easily the best comic book movie that was not based on an actual comic book. Raimi would bring on board Burton’s Batman composer Danny Elfman to do the musical themes and reportedly even had the audacity to want to cast his Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell in the lead, but that was not to be. Whom he got was certainly no lightweight in the form of Liam Neeson who plays his first (but not last) “popcorn” role to perfection, bringing a soulful quality to the tormented and deformed Peyton Westlake, a brilliant scientist whose life’s work is in that of developing a synthetic skin with realistic texture that would ease the pain and psychological stress suffered by burn victims and anyone else with physical deformities. But sadly his dreams of helping others (as his general benevolent nature is established well in the early scenes of the film) is shattered when his girlfriend (a lawyer) stumbles across some incriminating evidence about a client of hers that puts him in the crosshairs without even knowing it. As a result, his lab assistant is brutally murdered, his laboratory is trashed and his hands and head are dunked into a toxic burning fluid before the whole place is blown sky high in a tremendous explosion that sends Westlake afire into the river, leading to him being declared dead and his ear (the only part of him that was actually recovered) being buried at the local cemetery. But really Westlake has been picked up and brought to a hospital as a John Doe where the resident burn doctor (Jenny Agutter cameoing alongside her old American Werewolf director John Landis) has implemented a radical procedure to completely sever his nerve endings so that he no longer feels the agonizing pain from his burn injuries (even though being completely numb physically would probably also eliminate his ability to walk) which also allegedly instills the victim with feelings of rage and near superhuman strength from uncontrollable adrenaline surges (and which would probably sooner or later lead to an early death from either a heart attack and / or stroke related symptons). Needless to say, Westlake escapes from the hospital, gathers the remnents of his work (amazing just how much of it survived the explosion) and takes off for the nearest abandoned warehouse to continue his experiments and plan his revenge. It’s interesting in just how gothic Raimi strives to makes much of this material, not to mention emphasizing how Darkman is truly a tragically grotesque freak who most likely will never again live a normal life but can temporarily wear other faces (including his own) to go out in public to either reunite with his girlfriend (future two time Oscar winner Frances McDormand) or to carry out his revenge on the bad guys, in many ways coming off as being The Phantom Of The Opera in comic book superhero form, but again that’s where the casting of Neeson was a smart one, as he successfully captures the human side of the character whether it be through his scenes where he’s looking normal or just using his voice and eyes in his heavily bandaged masked scenes as well, but the gimmick of being able to wear his enemies’ faces also allows those other actors to get their own weird little bits in as you wonder if they are Darkman in disguise or rather the original bad guy character. Nonetheless, the show here is practically stolen by Larry Drake as Robert Durant. It appears that Raimi had such faith in the strength of his villains (especially Drake) that he allowed them to dominate the opening pre credits sequence featuring Drake’s Durant and his men outsmarting and then overpowering a much larger group of criminals for whom their business arrangements have gone terribly wrong. To watch Drake (who had just won an Emmy for playing the lovably retarded Benny on L.A. Law) sink his teeth into a sadistic, twisted, evil mobster is alot of fun, chopping off fingers and blowing away anyone who opposes him. Indeed, the level of fame that Drake had achieved from playing the mentally handicapped character from L.A. Law would factor greatly into the marketing campaign for this movie, encouraging people to come see the same actor now playing a cold blooded murderer and being promoted as if he were the main villain (which sadly he wasn’t even though Drake would return to assume that role in Part 2 of the series). With a penchant for keeping a stoneface even when his own men are laughing at a joke despite having a rather witty sense of humor himself, Drake underplays to perfection here and provides just the right counterpart to the boiling, unstable rage of Darkman. Among the only drawbacks on hand are the (very) dated bluescreen special effects, effectively revealing itself as being just a movie through its own crudeness complete with a “rage montage” whenever Darkman loses his shit. There’s also some stale dialogue especially in the lovey dovy scenes between Neeson and McDormand, turning their relationship into a bit of an overwrought cliché and one wonders just what influence McDormand (who reportedly clashed with Raimi on set) had on the filmmaking process because of her differences with the director and if that may have led to a stressful work environment for all involved. Reportedly, even the post production process on the film was said to be a nightmare, with the editor literally being taken off the project after suffering a nervous breakdown and numerous test screenings that came back with multiple negative scores even as the film itself had a successful theatrical run. Finally, we get a TERRIBLE performance by Colin Friels as Durant’s (and McDormand’s) corporate boss, the suit and tie main villain of the movie who reveals his motives late in the story but nonetheless can’t help but to be overshadowed by Drake’s Durant even as he gets the benefit of having the film’s final showdown with Darkman and gives him far too good of a fight for someone who’s ridden in limos his whole life. Worse, Friels is just way too jovial and over the top for an evil executive, playing his scenes half the time like a stand up comedian who enjoys laughing at his own material a bit too much while his intended audience (like Durant) can only shake their heads. However, what makes it all work are the little touches which Raimi brings to the material, from the Agutter cameo to the various but nonetheless original ways in which Raimi lets us “see inside” Darkman’s mind to the frenzied style of camerawork that Raimi had utilized and perfected in the Evil Dead films to the offbeat casting of Durant’s gleeful henchmen all the way down to his brother Ted Raimi as the “kid” member of the gang (whom it is hinted that Durant has a special mentor like affinity for) who just stands there and watches the others do the rough stuff to a person only to step in and put a bullet in the victim’s head at the end. The franchise would continue without Neeson who was replaced by Mummy actor Arnold Vosloo (though if the logic was coherent given the ending here the role really should have been assumed by Bruce Campbell himself) and it would be decent for a low budget, direct to video series, but this film shows how Raimi had the formula down pat in order to move onto the Spider Man films and created a character that remarkably continues to have his own fans to this day, just showing that great superheroes don’t necessarily have to start out on the printed page…
8/10