Long before Liam Neeson threatened kidnappers over the phone or mastered the ways of the Force, he was hiding in the shadows, wrapped in bandages, and plotting revenge as Darkman.
The really dark, not-so-Knight
In 1989, Hollywood was seeing dollar signs in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman. Studios were on a mad hunt to dig up any vaguely superhero-like character they could find, hoping to capture just a sliver of that bat-shaped pie. Enter Universal Pictures, who presumably stumbled upon a script buried under a pile of fedoras and thought, “Eh, good enough.”
Directed by Sam Raimi, who would later give us the Spider-Man trilogy, “Darkman” is essentially what you might get if the Punisher and Batman had a baby and then wrapped that baby in bandages.
Neeson’s character, Dr. Peyton Westlake, is on the brink of a scientific breakthrough in synthetic skin when he’s horrifically disfigured by henchmen who seemed to have flunked out of henchmen university. With his face messed up and his sanity stripping away, Peyton becomes Darkman, who’s bent on vengeance with a hefty amount of brooding. Sound familiar?
More than just a caped crusader
Aside from Neeson’s over-the-top performance, Darkman’s shameless embrace of pulp. Raimi, known for his campy and overblown scenes, turns everything up to eleven.
Like the Evil Dead, Raimi cannonballs Darkman into a wall of horror and noir. There’s a scene involving a stuffed pink elephant toy that’s more exaggerated than it has any right to be, proving that Darkman was never playing in the same sandbox as the more polished superhero movies of its time.
It’s this distinct lack of restraint that sets the movie apart from Batman. While Batman had that brooding, gothic look of Gotham, Darkman brooded over a city that felt like a backlot after a hurricane. It’s all very DIY, like a superhero costume made at home because the ones a the store were too expensive. Nonetheless, this rough movie is what sets it apart from Batman.
Why it’s worth watching
So, why watch Darkman? Because it’s a hell of a ride, a snapshot of a time when superhero films dared to be weird, dark, and a little bit unhinged. Neeson’s performance as the tortured hero is genuinely fascinating, and Raimi’s direction provides a kinetic, frenzied pace that you can’t help but be caught up in.
While it may not have had the success that Batman did or the polished veneer of modern superhero films, Darkman is what can be achieved when a film embraces its peculiarities instead of sanding them down. It’s a movie that reminds us that superheroes don’t always come in shiny packages.
So, if you’re in the mood for a superhero flick that’s a little off the beaten path, weird, and over the top, or if you just want to see Liam Neeson wrap himself in bandages and toss bad guys off a roof, give Darkman a watch. It’s an oddity that deserves your attention, bandages and all.
Screen Rated 