Darkman |  | Director: Sam Raimi
Actors: Liam Neeson, Frances Mcdormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Nelson Mashita
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  78 reviews
Sales Rank: 268546
Format: Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
UPC: 014381200836
EAN: 0014381200836
ASIN: B00008FEEB
Theatrical Release Date: August 24, 1990
Release Date: March 31, 1998
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Amazon.com
When attorney Julie Hastings (Frances McDormand) uncovers corrupt city real estate dealings, evil thugs attack her scientist boyfriend, Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson). Left for dead after his lab is detonated, he miraculously survives when the ensuing blast hurls him into the nearby harbor. Treated as a John Doe at a city hospital, he is unknowingly submitted to radical therapy which numbs his nerves to feeling--but which heightens his strength and his emotions. Once conscious, Peyton escapes from the hospital and builds a ramshackle lab in an abandoned industrial plant. Horribly burned and scarred by the lab explosion, he uses synthetic skin to impersonate his would-be murderers and seek retribution for their evil deeds. Peyton also tries to reunite with Julie, who believes him to be dead. While the film has an average script, it is overcome by the flashy cinematography of Bill Pope, the bombastic score by Danny Elfman, and the well-choreographed direction of Sam Raimi. The director confidently walks the line between suspense, action, comedy, and romance as he examines a bitter, victimized antihero who risks becoming as monstrous on the inside as he appears on the outside. --Bryan Reesman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 73 more reviews...
 Stylish B-Type Super Hero-Revenge Tale February 5, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
For a Class-B type movie and feel to it, it's pretty good....better than I anticipated. I've seen it twice and enjoyed it more the second time. I had forgotten how stylish-looking it was and it was fun to see.
What I did remember were a couple of wild scenes, such as "Darkman" (Liam Neeson) being swung around in the sky on the end of a chain from a helicopter, and the big fire scene early on which turns Neeson's character into the masked hero.
The villains in the movie are over-the-top, leading with Larry Drake's character "Durant." There also is some outrageous Rambo action which stretches way past credibility, such as people shooting from five feet away and missing our hero!
Overall, not as good as the critics would have you believe, but still entertaining. At least it has two quality actors in Neeson and Frances McDormand. Drake went on to play the infamous "Dr. Giggles." If you liked this crazy film, you'll love that one.
 pitiful January 3, 2009
Phr3d (midwest)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a perfect example of the amazon rating system going to hell from If-It-Wasn't-Horrible-I'll-Give-It-Five-Stars reviewers. Aside from the excellent transfer to HD-DVD, this thing is an embarrassment to all involved.
For those not familiar with any of the actors in Darkman, they are quite good actors normally - I've no idea what direction could have convinced them to read the atrocious dialog to the camera as wooden puppets.
The special effects are just horrible, well beyond the age of the film - they were not impressive in concept and unintentionally amusing when they were so poorly executed.
easily on my worst-ten list. If you liked Independence Day and War of the Worlds, this is your show-of-shows, no doubt.
Good movie November 29, 2008
Jerry Helsing (Boston, MA)
This was a good movie. And since it was on HD and not on Blu-Ray, it came at a good price. Glad to have it.
Can you spell "B" Movie? September 16, 2008
C. Dennis Burns (Cleveland, Ohio)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie is so bad that it's......OK.
Poorly constructed storyline, cheesy acting, cheap effects - this movie has it all. It's a 1950's drive in flick for the 90's.
 Celluloid Genius: Sam Raimi's Demented Disney (In A Great Way!) January 21, 2008
LawrenceSvetlana (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sam Raimi's a genius, and Darkman, in my opinion, is his finest hour. This is high-caliber dark humor, outrageously crazy fun, seriously fine craftsmanship, and one of a few works that exists in a genre all its own. Raimi gave utmost attention to every part of this film. The main triumvirate in this film -- Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, and Larry Drake -- speaks for itself. But, on top of that, every bit part here is played by an icon. Case in point: the doctor who first finds Westlake / Darkman (a possibly two-minute scene) is played by Jenny Agutter who played Jessica in Logan's Run (for goodness sake!) and has gone on to a monstrously gigantic career (she recently secured the role of Catherine in Act of God). Julius Harris plays a gravedigger and has one, single hilariously memorable line; in response to "I don't see you doing much work today," he says, "He was in an explosion; wasn't much left; just a few pieces; it don't take much time to bury an ear." Hung Fat is played by the inestimably aura-creating Sonny Trinidad (you've seen him in more films than you can count as either a smiling, kind Chinese man or the epitome of evil Orientalism), and his right-hand goon is played the inimitable Toru Tanaka (WWF wrestling tag-team champion and bit-part extraordinair). Ted Raimi, who's made a career out of minor roles, completely makes his death the scene arguably the funniest death scene in this movie and perhaps one of the funniest death scenes ever. Nicholas Worth has been doing film since 1968 and was last seen in a 2003 Dune movie. And he's brilliant. As is everyone. In other words, Raimi creates a stroke of genius for everybody in this film. And every pan, every transition, every gag, every gimmick, every pause is well-thought out and memorable. WARNING: SPOILERS HEREAFTER: I call this film Demented Disney, because it is all-action, chock-full of amazingly arresting gags, and has a warm, fuzzy, call-to-the-heart type of ending. The film begins with an introduction to Robert G. Durant, a man who keeps a collection of his victims' fingers and whose favorite pet is a dead and stuffed, taxidermic rabbit. After listening to his enemy's finer points of threats and summarily blowing them all away (mostly due to his favorite sidekick who doesn't have a left leg but does attach a machine gun to his knee-cap) he says, "Let's listen to my points, now. One: I try to control my anger. [Cuts one finger.] Two: I don't always succeed. [Cuts a second finger.] Three: I've got seven more points." [Screeeeaaaaamm!] And, though you're cringing inside and you're stomach's clinched, you life in spite of your best intentions. Darkman's ability to take on others' identities, at least temporarily, allows for hilarious I-See-Him-Here;-I-See-Him-There scenes, the best of which is when Pauly, one of Drake's goons, is thrown out a window and a passerby, standing next to the car he lands on, screams and then turns around and sees, well, Pauly (actually Darkman posing as Pauly and getting a neat little giggle about it all); which causes her to scream even more. No one's ever been blown up more nastily: by the use of a chicken toy. And when Darkman's anger gets the best of him, he does grotesquely violent things. In one case, to secure a pink elephant he has been unfairly not allowed to have -- I mean, he knocked over those three milk bottles and all, and you're going to say he stepped over the line? -- , he gets poked in the chest by a carny man and wraps his fingers around themselves until they're bubblegum. All three characters scream in succession: the carny because of the pain; Darkman at what he's done; and Julie in shock of watching the man she loves do such a thing. And we, the viewers, are laughing out loud. And Liam Neeson pulls off a deranged, rage-fueled Tin Man dance with a funnel for a hat that's a cult classic to this day. And just how did Sam Raimi get the cat to act the way he did? Brilliant. I'm telling you; it's Demented Disney. In the end, though, it's a story about the human heart, victimization of the innocent, righteous anger, and poetic justice. You'll feel for Darkman and his plight by film's end. And it will have taught something about the world you live in. And, if you're a film student, you couldn't do better than to watch this film. Every element gets an "A" in film school. Trust me. And it gets an "A" in my book for the creation of the most unique character in any genre, whether that be film, books, comics, or cartoons. As to the "R" rating, it's for language only. Perhaps for violence. But because this was such a great story and such a meaningful work about love, truth, justice, isolation, and so many other things, I let my children watch it (after a discussion about the vile verbals). And they loved it. And I honestly think almost any viewer of great film will, too.
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